#btw i hope the references to the fic are clear enough

[heartsgettingwiser62]

Anywayys so I may be lowkey highkey having a bit of a miraculous ladybug phase and I read @buggachat 's drowning (in plain sight) and. Jesus. Christ. When I tell you it CHANGED MY LIFE. Sooo I made a short animatic out of it.

A little warning, this is my 1st time trying animation and it's basically testing the waters, plus I'm not even used to digital art. So, I tried my best.

Hope y'all like it anyways!!!

[baskeigh-ball]

this might be a stupid question but, what exactly did Splinter do to the MM!trio? you’ve mentioned in both Don and Leo’s redesigns (both of which look awesome btw) how they feel about his ‘past actions’

is it just referring to his neglect, or did something else happen?

sorry again if this is a dumb question, or if you’ve already answered this. im just confused jsjabjs

No worries, I've been vague-posting about it and never really explained so you're definitely not alone lol, explanation under the cut as usual (warning, it's a bit long)

So I'm very interested in the headcanon that Splinter went through depressive episodes while trying to raise the turtles, and as a result neglected them by being emotionally absent, which could be technically canon based off how they characterized him in early episodes and various bits of dialogue?

I don't wanna jump the gun and say it's true to the show but there's hints here and there that he wasn't the most emotionally present parent (the fact Donnie has never had positive reinforcement from an adult and never spends time with Splinter, the fact Leo assumes he's the least favorite, Raph's entire conflict in the season 2 finale being burdened with too much responsibility, Mikey basically being the family therapist in place of, oh idk a parental figure, etc). Anyways, canon or not it's a legitimate thing in this AU.

Once the trio was old enough to look after themselves, Splinter fully fell into his depression and barely did anything around the lair. He would go days without leaving his room, not eating or doing anything, practically comatose in bed. His depression definitely wasn't helped with the way he lost Raph right after escaping Draxum's lab. I said it once, I'll say it again: survivor's guilt is a bitch

But the longest (and last) time he ever did so was when the turtles were 9-10 (Mikey 9, the twins 10). He completely isolated himself and left them to survive on their own for two weeks. Which doesn't sound that long, but it wasn't like they had two weeks' worth of food stocked up, not to mention the necessary upkeep around the lair. Leo and Donnie made it work, all while doing their best to keep Mikey happy, but it really took a toll on their trust in Splinter. After that, Splinter slowly made a recovery and has spent years doing his best to make it up to them. Leo appreciates it, Mikey acknowledges it, Donnie ignores it. But even now, nobody has yet to actually discuss the incident beyond surface-level apologies.

All in all, the fam is Not Okay but refuses to acknowledge it. I don't wanna get into too many details though, because a bunch of this stuff is gonna be talked about in either the fic or comic parts as they come out. Hope this cleared up any confusion :]

[dotster001]

Do you think you could make a twisted earth fic where we get transported to twisted wonderland with the octrio and whoever else you think would be interesting?

Im.not going anonymous bc I love my user too much

Summoned From Twisted Earth

A/N: this came out really long, oh my gosh but I hope you like it. I decided to focus on the octotrio, because I felt like daily life with them would be chaotic enough. (You're username is very funny btw) Later, I reference a shirt. I'm imagining this, but put your face in place of the emoji. I'm sorry 😂

Weeks of research, bribery, and thievery had led up to this moment. 

Azul’s phone, opened to the Twisted Earth homescreen, sitting in the middle of a summoning circle, him and the twins standing around it, pens drawn.

“Floyd, you remember the words, right?” Azul asked him.

“Duh! I’m not gonna mess up a chance to squeeze Shrimpy for real,” Floyd said with an eye roll.

“Remember, Shrimpy is for ALL of us. And we must make sure not to interrupt them when they are doing work for the lounge,” Jade said with a smile, although Azul was certain that should the moment arise, Jade would allow Floyd to run off with you for entertainment reasons.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let’s just do this before I lose my energy,” Floyd said.

The three began chanting the spell, moving their pens in synch, and the phone in the circle began to hiss and smoke. Suddenly, it exploded and filled the room with smoke.  The three began coughing and spluttering, trying to clear the smoke out.

When it faded, there you were. Laying down in the circle, eyes closed as though you were sleeping. 

Though the plan had been to let you wake up naturally, then explain the situation, Floyd was never one to follow plans. He dived into the circle with an excited laugh, and wrapped his arms tightly around you.

You woke up with a start, and immediately began to breathe heavily.

“Floyd,” Azul groaned, as Jade knelt down and illustrated deep breathing to get you to calm down.

“Wha?” Floyd said, seemingly unaware of the position you were in, and nuzzling his cheek against yours.

“There we are,” Jade said, satisfied that you’d calmed down enough. “Welcome to Twisted Wonderland. I am Jade, this is my brother Floyd, and that is Azul. How much do you know about yourself?”

This was the important part. If they had performed the spell to perfection, you would be aware that you were a video game, and aware of at least Azul, as it was his phone you were summoned from. If the spell was at its worst, you would have zero memories, and wouldn’t even know your own name. Azul was hoping for the former. The twins were hoping for something in between.

“I…uh…” you said hoarsely. “I’m Y/N. I know plenty about myself, what do you mean?”

“Fu fu, we were wondering if you knew you were a video game character, who lived in a non magical world,” Jade said, already fascinated by you. He’d rather just set you loose on the world and see what happened. But that wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon considering how tight his twin was holding you.

“I’m a what? No , no, I’m not a video game character,” You said hastily, attempting, rather unsuccessfully, to extricate yourself from Floyd’s grip.

Jade pulled out his phone, and showed you one of the cards in his game, and you froze.

“Understand?” Azul said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Here’s how things stand.”

                                              ….

Life with those three was…unique to say the least. Their story was that they were businessmen who brought you to life so that people could pay them to interact with you. It seemed reasonable enough, you guessed, but the way Floyd hung off you, Jade stared at you dreamily, and Azul turned red if you even looked at him, you had to guess there was more to it.

Not that you would ask them about it right now. You were having enough trouble adapting to a world full of magic, and fighting off the ever present existential crisis of finding out that everything you knew about yourself before this point was programmed into you.

You would start your day with Jade waking you up, and helping you free yourself from Floyd’s cuddle grip. This was easier on days when Floyd was in a good mood. If he was in a bad mood, not even a forklift could free you. After you were free, If you were free, Jade would give you a soothing mushroom based tea that somehow managed to taste good. It had a different flavor everyday, and Jade would quietly have a conversation with you while you drank it, eying you curiously. You felt safer never asking about it.

After this, you would join Azul in the VIP lounge, where you would film video messages, and do meet and greets with well off customers. Azul would busy himself with his paperwork, before offering you his arm to escort you to wherever you wanted to go, after you finished your work. He was always a blushy mess when you parted, but he still managed to ask if you needed anything from him, before going off to work the lounge, or go to class for the rest of the day.

Originally, you had had all three men’s phone numbers so that if anything happened while you were exploring this new world, they could be there in a flash. However, Floyd had taken to asking where you were, and skipping class. It had happened too many times, and now you had a new phone number, and Floyd was blocked on your phone.

All four of you would hang out at lunch time, where you would talk about what you had discovered that day. Jade would happily smile at you, while Floyd would nibble on your finger, arm, or anything you allowed him access to, and Azul would try to hold a conversation with you without becoming a disaster. (You had been assured by that twins that this behavior was weird, but you’d yet to see him act any other way).

Afterwards, you would explore some more, then rejoin them in the dorm. On Fridays, you helped out with the lounge at the special “Twisted Earth Theme Night”. Every other day, you would hang out with Jade at the bar, as he told you secrets about the customers. 

You would help them out when they needed to restock their merch store. It was definitely weird seeing merch of yourself, your friends, your enemies…. Pretty much everyone you knew. But if it kept Floyd from making more of that shirt….you’d do what you had to. You were able to help approve, or disapprove merch ideas, which not only meant you could prevent cursed crap from happening, but they could also put your official seal of approval on their products.

At the end of the day, you all would have dinner together, before separating for the night. This was usually the time when they would ask you questions.

Top Questions have included: 

“Do you think octopi are hot?” (from Floyd)

“Do you think eels are hot?” (from Floyd)

“How would you feel about being wrapped around, like you’re a bean pole, by a mermaid?” (From Floyd)

(You never know how to answer Floyd’s questions)

Once you got tired, you would go to your room, and go to sleep. You would wake up the next morning to Floyd cuddling you, and Jade waking you up, and the cycle would repeat.

It was definitely an odd life, but you were growing used to seeing those three everyday. The more you learned about them, the softer your heart went for them. You got excited to start your day cuddling Floyd, and drinking tea with Jade. You enjoyed working with Azul and watching him slowly grow bolder with you. You loved spending time with them at the end of the night, despite the weird questions you sometimes got. You were getting used to FLoyd jumping you, Jade’s secretly possessive behavior, and Azul’s charms.

You were grateful for your time with them. You couldn’t wait for your next adventure, or what the future would bring.

...

Tag list- @leonia0 @shytastemakerthing

[albed-hoe]

I fuckin' feel ya bro, whenever i search for some Fandom/Characters x male or gn reader the thing that appears is always FEMALE. And whenever i read some fanfics and the gender was not hashtagged or mentioned, then suddenly i saw a "pretty girl" "lady" "woman" "girly" and "she, her" in the middle of reading, it's just so disappointing and frustrating. I'm honestly suffocating of lack of x male reader. Btw.. I just want to say you did a really great job at your writings, i love it all, i love how you make fanfics for male like us, thank you. And uh.. Good luck on your school bro! Also get some rest and clear your mind. Amazing writers like you need some rest too❤️

Ahaaa yeah it's always kind of a slap in the face when the gender isn't mentioned at the start, then you expect it to be gn only to be hit with the character just absolutely destroying your pussy😃

No hate to female reader authors out there, keep doing your thang!😼 But please remember to properly tag your works with the appropriate gender! (More utc)

Another thing I find annoying is making a fic gendered (of course it's always a female pronoun) for literally no reason?? (Oh and not tagging it as female reader, as usual!) Like seven eighths of the fic is second person (you/yours) and then out of nowhere it just switches to third person and refers to you as she... Or the character refers to you as she/her while talking to somebody. Idk I'm just ranting about the same thing ig...

ANYWAYS, enough with being mad, TYSM FOR THE COMPLIMENTS🥰💞💞 They mean the world to me, and thank you everyone for reading my stuff!! I'm also kinda flooding the male reader tags with ranting (since there are only like 3 posts a week in them big sad), sorry y'all :(

I really hope that I am able to regain the motivation to write again, and just ignore stuff that I don't like. It's hard to ignore things that iritate us but it is how it is ig...

[bigskydreaming]

What kills me in fics is when you have tags going like "Good brother Jason", which, cool, but in the same story there's " Dick TRIES to be a Good Brother" LOL way to switch the dynamics. I also tend to stay clear of the ones where the centric character seems to have a platonic relationship tag with everyone (including the ones where they're antagonists in canon like Jason & Tim) except Dick. You can feel the hate/dislike/prejudice a MILE away.

Yeeeeeeah. You are definitely not alone. Like pretty much every Dick Grayson stan I’ve ever talked to on the subject stays the hell away from any fic tagged “Dick Grayson tries to be a good brother.”

LOL like....it’s basically what I was talking about in that older post I just reblogged a few minutes ago. That thing where Dick’s actions or choices in a canon story or fic aren’t judged on their own merits but are rather inherently weighed against some hypothetical perfect choice that he DIDNT make and so he’s basically evaluated based on how much he falls short of that mark each time instead of anything he actually did.

Sorry not sorry, but I’m just not interested in stories that TRANSFORM the character most commonly referred to as the emotional glue of the family and the only one who consistently even CARES about them all being a family....into the fumbling incompetent relationship disaster man who at best gets credit for at least putting in an attempt at being there for his family.

Especially not when Bruce and Jason and Tim are praised for doing the bare minimum in canon when it comes to family interactions while everything Dick ACTUALLY did is just completely ignored and overwritten in order to make his Failure to People Good the narrative obstacle to be overcome.

Now, the “Dick Grayson Tries To Be A Good Brother” tag applied to Tim-centric fics in particular tho....hoo boy I am out of there so fast there’s a Kool-Aid Man shaped hole in the wall and not a sign of me as far as the horizon.

Like, currently my Pet Peeve Thermostat is set to Battle for the Cowl-referencing fics that don’t use this tag but very much are in that spirit. You probably know the ones, like their summaries suggest they’re open to considering Dick’s side of the situation but turns out the author at most is throwing him a “well at least you tried not to suck” bone while still reading him the riot act for very much still sucking.

Because what drives me up a flipping WALL here in particular, when I naively click on a link that seems different from the usual and ignore the voice of experience because I’m just desperate enough for Tim and Dick food that doesn’t just go on and on about how Dick ruined their brotherhood and it will never be truly repaired....

What makes the fruit bats in my belfry go absolutely B-A-N-A-N-A-S is not just the super fun realization that Psych! You thought this fic might be different but it’s actually the same!

Nah.

It’s how much people, both writers AND commenters, just absolutely LOVE to reference Tim’s shitbag parents and how emotionally abusive and neglectful they were (all true and valid, btw, let’s be totally clear about that)....but bringing them up here specifically to emphasize just how great Dick’s ‘betrayal’ was and how what he did makes him no better than them.

It’s like. Oh. I see.

So because after twenty years worth of stories about Dick dropping everything the second Tim needs him, whether it’s for help or just advice or even just reassurance or comfort or ANYTHING ....because after two decades worth of content showing Dick absolutely doting on Tim in their EVERY SINGLE interaction and buttressing his self confidence at every opportunity, never passing up a chance to call him his brother and emphasize that they’re family and he loves Tim and is so proud of him...

Because after all that there’s a story whose very premise forced Dick to choose between two kids, both still very much his brothers and their shared father’s sons even if one was new to him and didn’t have the same history the other two had....

Because by the very nature of the story Dick had no choice but to prioritize one over the other due to them both hating each other and Dick already being stretched to his absolute limits trying to live his dead father’s life and take on everything Bruce used to do at the cost of giving up everything Dick had chosen for his own life and wants and priorities, all while dealing with his own grief....

And with it being inevitable that the boy he DIDNT choose to prioritize was going to be hurt....

Because after twenty years of never failing to put Tim first the second Tim needed him, never even putting HIMSELF first OVER Tim....because for the first time Dick felt that someone else he felt obligated to, felt a responsibility towards, actually needed him MORE than Tim....

And for that reason and that reason ONLY, Dick picked that other boy, all while trying his best to tell Tim that he still needed him, still valued him, all the things that Bruce DIDNT tell him when he took Robin not even because he thought someone else needed it at the time but simply to take away, with absolutely nothing Dick said in any way negating or contradicting any of his many, MANY assurances to Tim over the years that they were brothers and always would be and with them still very much legally brothers and with concrete ties to each other that declared them family even WITHOUT the connection of Robin....

Because after and despite ALL OF THAT, Dick picked the brother that he didn’t know and frankly didn’t even LIKE, because he knew no one else was going to pick this kid and he also knew he’d already picked Tim a hundred times before and hoped that at least all that HISTORY of past focus and attention he’d given Tim to help build him up, give him foundations to build further upon, that hopefully at least that history that was still there, still relevant, still something Tim had actively benefited and grown from in ways Dick now hoped to help Damian....like surely this would be of at least SOME significance to Tim, SOME kind of proof of how much Dick loved and valued Tim....

Because one time and one time ONLY, Dick DIDNT put Tim’s needs first, not because he didn’t want to or because he was being selfish or short sighted or simply didn’t care, but rather solely because this one time Tim’s needs were in direct opposition with the needs of another young boy Dick saw as his responsibility and in even greater need and with even less of a foundation than the one Dick had helped Tim build....

This puts Dick on the same level as Tim’s shitbag parents, the ones who are infamous for (and practically synonymous with) emotional abuse and neglect. Dick’s basically interchangeable with them now. Certainly no better than them. Tim’s entire emotional well-being rested on Dick and Dick alone and nothing he’d provided Tim with in the past counts, just this one moment in time right here right now, that’s the entirety of their relationship see, it all comes down to this and nothing else, and because Dick didn’t put Tim first, no matter WHAT his reasons or how much he wanted to, he has officially failed Tim as hard as the neglectful parents who did nothing BUT neglect, ignore and just not give a shit at all, simply because they couldn’t be bothered to.

Yeah.

That’s neat.

[corruptedconfessions]

In your drider Izuku fic (fantastic job btw), theres an offhand mention of "not making that mistake again" in reference to letting his eggs fall out... Can we get a more in depth explanation/blurb/anything of what exactly this delusional spider does? Thank you!

;)))) I was seriously hoping someone would ask tbh so thank you anon!

Also I generally headcanon that Driders don’t know english, they communicate in their own language (hisses, chirps, ect) but since this smart boy just loves you so god damn much he decides to learn your language for you! But he’s impatient as hell and kidnaps you before he has the chance to learn much. 

Tw: Mild blood, more non con

You’re entire body was shaking all the way down to your bones, even your lugs felt like they were trembling from overstimulation as you desperately gasped for breath, heaving for air as best you could with your still fully paralyzed body. Faintly you could still feel the blood oozing from the puncture holes on your thigh where the beast, he had told you his name was Izuku, you refused to use it, had injected you with his venom, leaving you completely limp and helpless as he took you, pumped you full of his eggs till your stomach swelled and your body cramped at the stretch. 

And then the bastard had the gall to hover around you and look so god damn pleased about it. Practically glowing and patting himself on the back as he chirped happily, cooing down praises at you in garbled English as he stroked your hair and kissed all over your face as he slowly pulled himself out of you. 

Immediately eggs followed suit, sliding out of your loose passage easily, hitting the ground with soft taps as you groaned in relief, your eyes rolling back slightly as the pleasure of them rolling past your g-spot and the relief from the pressure and cramps filled you with bliss. At least until a loud, animalistic sound filled the cave, echoing off the cold walls, the sound so angry and animalistic it had your blood turning to ice as you hesitantly looked at the creature still hovering above you, knowing that he must be the source of the noise.

You shouldn’t have looked.

If you had been able to move with the venom you definitely wouldn’t be able to now, your entire body froze in fear as you looked up, only to be met with a face contorted in pure rage. The soft warm Izuku that had laughed and playfully batted your limbs away as you fought and screamed at him was gone, instead replaced with this...monster. Glowing slitted red eyes stared down at you as his face curled into an inhuman snarl, sharp fangs jutting out grotesquely as drool dripped from them. 

You wanted so desperately to shrink away or try to desperately run despite the monster already being ontop of you, pinning you down, claws sinking into your arms as he ignored your pained squeals as blood dribbled down your arms from the cuts, if anything your cries made him sink his claws deeper into your skin, easily shredding through you like paper. 

He growled even more, making a barrage of clicks and noises you couldn’t even begin to understand, not while you were distracted by the piercing white hot pain that shot through your arms. Eventually the claws brutally ripped themselves out from where they had sunk into your skin, seeming to become even more angered when you screamed out in pain. Instead of sinking back into you his claws seemed to move to run through and grab at his hair in frustration, seeming to be struggling, his tongue seeming to move behind his fangs, as if he was trying to form words. 

Finally he turned back to you, ignoring how you managed to flinch subtlety, the venom wearing off enough you turned your head away from him, squeezing your eyes shut. Not that it did you much good since the drider quickly grabbed your face between two fingers, pulling it much to roughly back to look at him. 

“No! Bad!”

You couldn’t help the tears that overflowed streaming down your cheeks freely. You’re body shook with the strain of your sobs as you whimpered up at him desperately, just wanting to go home, just wanting the pain to stop.

“So..rry”

You’re tongue still felt heavy, your mouth still numb enough it was near impossible to talk but you managed to whimper out the single word, desperately hoping it would be enough to save you from the wrath that was aimed down at you right now. 

If only you were so lucky. 

Cold red eyes, you never thought you would miss the green so much, stared down at you, reading you, calculating, as if trying to decide what to do with you. You couldn’t decide if it would be a mercy if he killed you or not.

After a few moments he seemed to come to a decision, one of his arms hooking itself under one of your legs, pushing it up and spreading you wide for him again. Immediately you jerked in his hold, panic filling you as you started crying harder, head hurting as you shook with the strength of your sobs. 

“No!”

The word had barely managed to slip from your lips before a clawed hand was shoving your face down, claws curling around your head, not piercing your skin...yet. The threat was clear enough you muffled your sobs, squeezing your eyes shut as you bit your lip, trying to tune out everything. 

If only. The drider had made his mind up, and he was going to show you just how nice he had been for the two of yous first mating, how gentle he was and how he had planned on holding himself back to one or two rounds for the sake of your fragile human body...until you decided to ruin everything. 

The next several hours would be filled with egg after egg, stuffing you fuller than you had been at the beginning, Izuku, who had been sweet and loving at first despite your anger and curses hurled had him, now shoved you down roughly and took you like the animal he was. He wasn’t going to stop until he was satisfied, until he was sure you were fully bred and aware of where your place was...right there below him. 

Heaven forbid you let even a single egg slip again, the whole process will start over again. It doesn’t matter if you cry, or beg, or even pass out, it wont stop until your “mate” decides it’s time. 

[adragonhoardingstories]

Of Blood and Bonds - Chapter 5

"Father you know I respect you." Damian said and everyone at the dining table stilled as they were about to get up and leave. "But I must admit, as my brothers would say, you've majorly fucked up." 

Bruce sighed. He had thought about that - had Alfred scold him for having benched Damian - for doing as Damian had said and taking out his anger about his own failures on his other children. But that didn't make this any easier.

"Damian I know you're mad I didn't tell you about your sister-"

"Oh this is not about that. Well not entirely. They are connected but this is not about Marinette alone." When no one spoke, he took it as his cue to continue. 

"You saw in her files that there were some vague details about her being possessed by an akuma. Did you figure out what they are? Because I have an its not pretty. Actually, it's bad enough to warrant an intervention of the Justice League as a whole but my sister tells me that they were told not to waste the JL's time." 

His youngest's face was worryingly blank. It reminded him of all the times he was set upon something and right now it seemed that his new focus was his older sister. Bruce supposed, he should be thankful that Damian's attention towards her was not of the murderous kind. 

"What do you mean?" He made sure to keep his voice free from emotions. 

"From what she told me, they asked for help several times until someone from the JL dismissed their problems as a prank, a joke without any investigation or anything about their claims."

Someone was going to be hearing from Batman soon. 

"And what about the akumas?" 

"It's enough to need more than one member of the JL. I've see a video of one of the attacks, it's...horrifying and according to Marinette it was one of the tamer ones." 

"Do you have them?" His sons all looked annoyed and he knew they were probably thinking that he was letting superhero work take precedence over his family again. But that was how he worked. He didn't know what to do about the situation with Marinette but this - this could find a solution to. 

"There are videos of them online." 

Damian seemed to take that as his cue to get up and walk away. 

"I'll play the videos in the cave." 

~

Marinette hadn't necessarily had the best time in the last years but one thing he had definitely learned was who were her real friends and who weren't.

It was before the worst month of her life but things had already started taking a turn for the worse for her at that point. 

Her so called friends all started to believe Lila over her, started to - as she now knew - emotionally blackmail her, only gave her the time of the day whenever she did something for them or to scold her for whatever she apparently did for poor Lila. 

She was oh so tired and every second she wasted made her feel more guilty. 

Hawkmoth had come back more enraged than ever after the Miracle Queen incident and she had done the mistake of lending the more Miraculous out.

She had given Kagami and Luka both different Miraculous for them to fight alongside her because they both have strong spirits and a good resonance with several kwamis but... let's just say that she would never forgive herself for what they had to experience because of her.

In desperation, she tried to find other holders that she hadn't used before who resonated but that...that had been a huge mistake. She almost lost more than one Miraculous that day. 

She was their Guardian. And that day she vowed that she would die first before letting something happen to the Kwamis.

She was fighting alone now. Chat Noir...Chat Noir was even more pushy about revealing themselves after the the chaos that had occured. He hindered more than he helped, never showing up on time. 

Things had come to head one day as she walked into class. The whole incident had involved a bunch of sheep and a ripped sketchbook - hers to be precise. 

It proved to actually be a relief to let go if them. She had never realized how much their 'friendship' had been dragging her down. 

I got permission to use this fic as a reference for her backstory so check it out. Thanks for that btw.

That experience proved to be helpful later when she felt like there was no one she could trust. 

Apprenticeship with Master Fu had since long taught her that it was better to feel than to see. She had learnt to recognise auras rather than faces and in the end that might have been her saving grace - or well at least the start of her path back to sanity. 

She had learnt to see and remember the auras of her friends rather than anything else because afterall the soul didn't lie.

After everything, well her reliance on auras had only increased. 

Meeting her brothers had been amazing and even more so now that it seemed that they wanted to have a relationship with her.

But one things that bothered her were their auras. 

It wasn't that they were bad - it was that they were scarred, hardened and she could basically see that they had suffered in the past. 

The worst of them were probably Jason and Damian. Their auras made it very clear that they had been dipped in the Lazarus pits.

Jason...Jason's soul had been corrupted at such a point that she doubted that the pits had been used for anything less than bringing him back from the dead. 

And Damian - Damian's soul seemed to have some of the pits as a foundation. She gathered that he had been dunked into the pools more than once when he was a child. There was something else in his aura too that showed that he had died not long ago too. 

There was also another aura that seemed to have to have linked with both of them which made her sure of their last fates and Marinette shuddered to think what had happened to them. 

She had to remind herself that the past was in the past and while she couldn't change that, she could at least help them have a better future. 

So, one could say, that she was nervous for this upcoming dinner.

~

The dinner didn't go as expected - at all. 

Firstly, they were late. All of her brothers and sister were late, very very late. Marinette was not impressed, especially give that Damian wasn't answering his phone. 

But this was Gotham, the few kwamis she had brought with her reasoned, there was probably a problem and wasn't it better that were safe inside than stuck outside and hurt? 

Just as she was about to say screw it and transform using the fox Miraculous to see if she could help the bats, she felt the magic around the house shift. 

Marinette focused in the disturbance and closed her eyes reaching out for their auras. She soon snapped her eyes open and let a smile come on her face - she knew those auras. But why were they entering from the window? 

Marinette shrugged it off and signalled the kwamis to hide while she went to greet them. 

She was not ready for the sight that she came upon. Her siblings were all in a state of disarray and it looked like they were trying to be silent. 

They were of course failing miserably given what seemed to be a bullet wound in Jason and a stab would in Dick and the rest of them all seemed to have been beat up to at least some degree.

"What the fuck?" Marinette felt like the situation called for her language to be excused. 

They all froze in place before slowly turning to look at her. 

"Uh hey." Dick or should she say Nightwing because apparently she wasn't stressed enough gave her a short wave.

She cursed and buried her face in her hands. "Of course I can't have normal siblings."

"Siblings?" Black Bat seemed suprised. She couldn't recognize her aura, Marinette decided that she must have been Cassandra. 

"You must be confused ma'am." Red Robin jumped in and Marinette rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid Timothy." And then just to prove her point she point at each one of them in turn. "Jason, Dick, Damian and who I'm guessing is Cassandra."

"What makes you say that?" Tim seemed to be ever the player of words. 

She sighed, knowing they wouldn't budge until she proved that she truely believed her words. 

"Well, why else would you be here?"

"Uh because it was the nearest place we found to nurse our wounds and last time we checked this place was abandoned?"

"Let's say that's true. Wouldn't it make more sense for you to go a place where you could actually have access to supplies to treat your wounds? Not to mention the fact that that-" she pointed at the hole in Jason's shoulder. "-is a bullet wound and I heard no gunshot. And lastly, what a coincidence it is that Black Bat who is known to work in Hong Kong comes back to Gotham at the same time as my sister Cassandra who from what I've heard also is currently living in Hong Kong too." 

No one replied. 

"So do you want to continue arguing or are you idiots going to let me help you before you bleed all over my floor."

Unsurprisingly it was Damian who moved the first - it made sense, he was the one who had spent most time with her and at least had a modicum of trust in her. 

He removed his mask and met her eyes. "Do you have a first-aid kit?"

She nodded. "Get in the bathroom and get those two in the tub." She nodded towards Dick and Jason. I'll bring it to you." 

Marinette hurried to her bed room to find her probably over-packed first aid kit. She had brought it for herself so that in case of a bad akuma attack she could take care of her wounds - after all her cure took care of everyone else before her, she had enough scars to prove that not that she could distinguish them from those the cat had given her.

She was glad to see that they had followed her instructions. Jason and Dick were seated in her honestly huge tub and they along with the rest had made themselves comfortable, having discarded their armor. 

She placed the first-aid kit down and kneeled next to Dick. She felt that the stove would in the stomach took more precedence. 

Jason reached out for the kit but Marinette batted his hand away. 

"You're injured, sit down quietly." She snapped and to everyone's surprise, he did as he was told. 

Marinette started treating their wounds, thanking the kwamis that she had done a medical course as soon as she had realised that her wounds could not heal from the cure. 

She had finally taken care of the more dangerous wounds and Marinette had enough of them squirming so she broke the silence "So, why in the world did you come here instead of going to your hyper-tech batcave with most certainly more medical facilities than my humble abode?"

She had to supress a smile as the boys looked among themselves. Finally it was Cassandra that replied. 

"Did not want to miss dinner. You." 

"Well you were already two hours late, you could just have sent me a text that you'd be a little more late."

"Didn't want to take chance."

Marinette smiled up at her. "Well I'm done, come on, I'll get you some clothes to change into."

"I don't think you'll have anything that will fit us."

"I'm a designer." She called over her shoulder. "I always have spares. Anyways, Cassandra-" 

"Cass."

"Right, well Cass come with me, we're about the same size, you can take something of mine."

She led Cass to her bedroom and guided her to her wardrobe while she picked something for the boys.

She totally hadn't hoped to see her siblings during this trip and had this made something for them. Nope. Absolutely not.

She handed each of them their clothes. "Choose a room if you want, I have more than enough of them, then come down, I'm re-heating the food."

She smiled at Damian as he came down the stairs. "I tried my hand at some Arabic food. I hope you like it." 

The boy looked awed. He walked to her and gave her a hug. "You're my new favourite sibling." Marinette laughed and pressed a kiss in his hair. "I love you too little brother."

She heard the disbelieving whisper of Demon Spawn? And looked up to see the rest. 

She squeezed Damian's shoulder one last time before she pulled away, guiding him to sit down.

"Well dig in. You must be famished after your fight."

They did exactly that and soon were making their appreciation known. 

"It's the first time I've attempted Arabic food, I don't know if I got the spices right.*

"It's delicious Pixie Pop. Don't worry.*

"Todd's right Mari. I haven't eaten anything this good since I came to Gotham."

"Really? Alfred didn't immediately dote on you and cook you all the food you wanted. "

He looked uncomfortable. "I was a difficult child back then."

"Was?" Jason snorted while Dick elbowed him. 

Casssandra intervened. "You good at cleaning wounds. Hands stable."

"Yes well unfortunately it's not the first time I've had to do this."

"How come?" 

"Did Damian tell you about the akuma attacks?" They nodded. "Well, Paris had since adapted to handle the akuma attacks. A lot of people have taken medical courses for extensive first aid to be able to help the unfortunate victims of an akuma."

"I thought that your superhero reversed all the damage."

"Well yeah. But Ladybug was insistent to make it clear that they couldn't bank everything on her. If she's taken down, everything's lost."

"This has been going for how many years. How do you still trust that hero?"

"And for how many years have the Joker been spreading his terror?" She asked drily and saw several of them recoil - Jason and Tim especially. 

"Ladybug is doing all that she can only get so far with Chat Noir around."

"Chat Noir? I thought that he was her partner?"

"He's supposed to be but we'll these days he causes more trouble than he stops. People hope he doesn't show up because the battles are always over quicker when he's not there." She could see that they wanted to ask more but number one she didn't want to talk about Chat Noir and number two she felt like if she continued talking, she would slip up and say something she shouldn't know and the risk of them catching it was greater since they were themselves heroes.

"And anyways, Hawkmoth only comes out in a blue moon and that's only when he has a lot of faith in his plans."

"So there are a lot of these akuma attacks?" 

"I guess it's kind of become a daily event by this point. People plan stuff taking it into consideration and if we're unlucky, there will be more than one in a day."

"So what type of akumas are there?"

"It depends really over what you've been akumatized. We've had a Pharaon, a Mime, Mr Pigeon and Mr Rat as well as Syren in the first year." 

"Those seem like... interesting characters." Jason said. 

"Wait until you hear this." Marinette snorted. "We had a Batman knock-off once, Owlman - he had his own electronic butler and everything."

The bats shared a look before they all bursted out laughing at once. 

How could they not, imagining Bruce's face upon learning of this?

"You need to tell us this story."

Marinette was more than eager to comply. 

~

It's too long so I'm gonna reblog the rest

[starlightinhumanform]

Friday Night Lights

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Ships: Romantic Prinxiety, Platonic Sleepxiety 

Summary: Roman and Virgil play opposite positions on their rival high school football teams. It’s the Homecoming game and tensions are high. Neither are willing to lose but one must rise above the other…

Warnings (in order of strength): Some language throughout, Just Gays Being Dudes (That is to say, some mildly mildly risqué content)

Genre: Human (High School) AU, Rivals to Lovers, Eventual Fluff 

A/N: I impulsively wrote a bullet point fic (*btw the bullet fic does contain some spoilers so beware of that before you read it*) several months ago and meant to flush it out a lot sooner but I only got a thousand words in before life hit and I wasn’t able to continue. I’m hoping to get the second part done soon, but in the mean time I thought I might as well post this! :D Love you all 🖤✨ 

Chapter 2    Ao3 Link   Fic Masterpost    Fic Request Info

The locker room light was sterilely bright, fluorescent lightbulbs glaring loudly above Virgil’s head. Bodies rushed back and forth in front of him, occasionally bumping into his knees or ruffling his hair. A hand clapped his shoulder but between the padding on his shoulders and the distance of his mind, he hardly felt it.

He sat on the wooden bench, neck bent, eyes closed, and breathing deeply through his nose. He did this before every game. While his other teammates hyped each other up- yelling and pounding each other on the back- he would go somewhere far, far away. It was how he got centered before all the chaos, how he rose above the adrenaline pounding in his heart, how he won. But today was different. Today he had to win.

“Hey, sleeping beauty, you ready to smash this game?”

Virgil grinned as he opened his eyes and turned to look at his fullback, Remy, “Yeah, dude. We’re going to wipe that smug grin off Prince’s face once and for all.”

———————————————

Roman Prince sat in a tight huddle with the rest of his team, wearing a smug grin. This was the homecoming game, basically the most exciting three hours of Roman’s year. Besides, this was his senior year and his last chance to show the rival school where they belonged. (That is to say, in the dirt).

With one last shout, the team started jogging out of the locker room, jumping as than ran and yelling at each other occasionally like they couldn’t even remember how to talk. The energy was electric. Roman lived for moments like this. The only thing he loved more than the pre-game hype was the post-victory euphoria.

He grinned and ran out into the field. It was dusk, a dark blue sky fenced off by the bright flood lights ringing the stands. He was hit by the strange combination of smells that was only found on high school football fields- funnel cake and sweat and turf and axe body spray and face paint. He waved at the cheering stands and blew a kiss at the opposing bleachers who booed at his arrival. This was his world and that ridiculous West Shore High didn’t have shit on him.

———————————————-

Virgil glared across the field at the pompous tackler from Monarch Knights. He was currently blowing kisses over towards his team and it made Virgil want to punch him. The boy was just so full of himself. Unfortunately, he had some right to be. On defensive, he was like a wall- one that simply refused to be knocked down. When he played offense, he moved like a tractor through the other team, mowing them down like they were cards and he was a quickly approaching tornado.

Remy laughed next to him, “I don’t think staring at him is going to do anything.”

“Well, if you do your job, I won’t have to do anything to him,” Virgil shoved him lightly in the chest.

Remy pushed back and it sent Virgil stumbling back a few feet. Virgil was by far the smallest on the team but he didn’t really mind; his job was to be light and fast. Being the halfback meant he got the ball and ran like his life depended on it. All the brutes around him were supposed to keep the field clear enough for him to sprint all the way to the end zone.

Usually it worked out well. Remy would run ahead of Virgil, knocking any threats out of the way and Virgil would carry them all the way to victory. Usually. Sometimes they would come across teams with some on-steroids sort of defense. Sometimes Remy would get pushed to the side play after play and Virgil would spend every down trying to weave his way through an oncoming river. Sometimes Virgil would get trapped in front of an oncoming wall and could hardly run an inch the entire night. More specifically, sometimes they played against Roman Prince.

Monarch Knights was the only school they had lost to the entire season. But not tonight. Virgil refused to be made a fool of.

———————————————-

Roman could feel that stare from across the field. Hundreds of eyes were on him at the moment, but none were so venomous.

It was the little creep who played offense for West Shore. He was one of the strangest people Roman had ever had the displeasure of playing against. Virgil Tempeste was like a chihuahua- tiny, aggressive, and buzzing with energy. Standing next to him felt just as idiotically risky as standing three inches from a lightning rod in the middle of a thunderstorm. When Roman had been forced to shake his hand earlier in the season, he had been half convinced that Tempeste was going to bite him.

As difficult as it was to admit though, he was Roman’s biggest concern this game. The halfback was fast and he knew how to weave through even the best defense lineups. He moved across the field like an ice skater across a rink.

Roman tried to give the little weasel a wave, but he was too busy bickering with the boy next to him to see Roman. Is was oddly disappointing; Roman would have loved to see how mad he could make Tempeste before the game even began.

——————————————————- The pre-game niceties passed by Virgil in a blur. Someone sang the national anthem, a coin got tossed, and the Student Body Leaders said something over the speaker system but it just sounded like overly enthusiastic static.

All that mattered was that they had possession of the ball. That meant Virgil could start his sprint from the very start of the game. Virgil liked his position. He was important, he had purpose, it gave him an opportunity to use all of the anxious energy he had bouncing around inside. Most importantly, his position was the very back of the formation which meant he got to see everyone else’s asses.

He looked out across the field and over his team. Past Remy, their quarterback, and the long line of guards and receivers, the red uniforms of the Knights blazed an angry red. It was such an arrogant colour, bright and brash and filling all of Virgil’s senses. Every time they played against the Knights, those stupid uniforms bothered him a ridiculous amount. Maybe that’s why they wear them- like that thing the matadors do with the red capes.

Virgil shook his head. He needed to stay focused; the game was going to start in seconds at most and he was idiotically thinking about the opposing team’s colours. But if he craned his back he could just see Prince…

—————————————-

Roman glared at the brute in front of him. His mouth guard sat heavily against his teeth. The bitter taste of plastic couldn’t mask the coppery adrenaline that coated his tongue and flooded his brain.

This was his game. His to win, his to conquer, his to dominate. And none of those Concord-grape-looking fools were going to get in his way.

The beast in front of him growled and Roman rolled his eyes. He really thought he could intimidate Roman? Bitch, please. He looked like the type of guy who would hurl slurs at Roman for wearing eyeliner just because he was insecure in his own sexuality (and probably thought that Roman was just a little bit hot). That type stopped scaring him a long time ago. Besides, he could brush that guy off like a fly.

The real threat was several feet behind him. Roman had come to refer to Remy Ristretto and Virgil Tempeste as Team Rocket because they were just as annoying and undermining- except they were often more successful than the cartoon characters.

Roman stopped trying to see Virgil and made eye contact with the wall just a few feet ahead, giving him a wink. He might as well have fun with this. Anyways, he’d have plenty of time to bother Tempeste later in the game.

If you want to be added to my Sanders Sides fic taglist or my Friday Night Lights taglist, please just send me an ask or reply to this post :p (please specify which one you would like to be added to!) 

General Taglist: @phan-fander @abi-beehive @fandomfan315 @cas-is-a-hunter @reggieleigh07 @endless-rain-of-words @vicdehart @im-actually-ok @softnic  Friday Night Lights Taglist: @lcrnbw @itsvirgilelliot @amazing-creepyfloof

[lesbeet]

not to be a nerd but i accidentally just wrote a whole impromptu essay about editing ndjsdksksk im throwing it under a cut bc it's fucking inane and really long but honestly... i just want other people to become as passionate about editing as i am lmaooooo

i also recommend 2 books in the post so if anything at least check those out!

quality books about editing... *chef's kiss* a lot of the basic ones (including blog posts online n such) are geared towards beginners and end up repeating the same info/advice, much of it either oversimplified or misrepresented tbh. but i read one yesterday and i'm reading another one right now that really convey this passion for editing + consideration for it as its own sort of art and i just!!

it's such a weird thing to be passionate about lmao but i AM and i've spent a lot of time the past year or so consciously honing my craft (ik i mention this like 4 times a week i'm just really proud of how much i've learned and improved) and kind of like. solidifying my instincts into conscious choices i guess?

and these GOOD editing books have both a) taught me new information and/or presented familiar information through a new perspective that helped me understand something differently or in more depth, and b) validated or even just put into words certain preferences or techniques that i've developed on my own, that i don't normally see on those more basic lists i mentioned

btw the book i finished yesterday is self-editing for fiction writers: how to edit yourself into print by renni brown and dave king, and the one i'm reading currently is the artful edit: on the practice of editing yourself by susan bell.

the former was pretty sharp and straightforward. the authors demonstrated some of their points directly in the text, which was usually funny enough that i would show certain quotes to my sister without context

("Just think about how much power a single obscenity can have if it’s the only one in the whole fucking book." <- (it was)

"Frequent italics have come to signal weak writing. So you should never resort to them unless they are the only practical choice, as with the kind of self-conscious internal dialogue shown above or an occasional emphasis."

or, my favorite: "There are a few stylistic devices that are so “tacky” they should be used very sparingly, if at all. First on the list is emphasis quotes, as in the quotes around the word “tacky” in the preceding sentence. The only time you need to use them is to show you are referring to the word itself, as in the quotes around the word “tacky” in the preceding sentence. Read it again; it all makes sense.")

and like i said, i also learned some new ideas or techniques (or they articulated vague ideas i already had but struggled to put into practice), AND they mentioned some suggestions that ive literally never seen anyone else bring up (not to say no one has! just that ive never seen it, and ive seen a lot in terms of writing tips, advice, best practices, etc) that ive already sort of established in my own writing

for example they went into pretty fine detail about dialogue mechanics, more than i usually see, and in talking about the pacing and proportion of "beats" and dialogue in a given scene, they explicitly suggested that, if a character speaks more than a sentence or two and you plan on giving them some sort of dialogue tag or an action to perform as a beat, the tag or action should be placed at one of the earliest (if not the first) natural pauses in the dialogue, so as not to distance the character too far from the dialogue -- bc otherwise the reader ends up getting all of the dialogue information first, and then has to go back and retroactively insert the character, or what they're doing, or the way they look/sound while they're giving their little speech

and like this was something ive figured out on my own, mostly bc it jarred me out of something i was reading enough times (probably in fic tbh) that i started noticing it, and realized that it's something i do naturally, kind of to anchor the character to the dialogue mechanic to make sure it makes sense with the actual dialogue

so like. ok here's an example i just randomly pulled from the song of achilles (it was available on scribd so i just looked for a spot that worked to illustrate my point djsmsks)

the actual quote is written effectively, but here's a less effective version first:

“Perhaps I would, but I see no reason to kill him. He’s done nothing to me," Achilles answered coolly.

see and even with such a short snippet it's so much smoother and more vivid just by moving the dialogue tag, not adding or cutting a word:

“Perhaps I would, but I see no reason to kill him.” Achilles answered coolly. “He’s done nothing to me.”

the rhythm of it is better, and the beat that the dialogue tag creates functions as a natural dramatic pause before achilles delivers an incredibly poignant line, both within the immediate context of the scene and because we as the readers can recognize it as foreshadowing. plus, it flows smoothly because that beat was inserted where the dialogue already contained a natural pause, just bc that's how people speak. if you read both versions aloud, they both make sense, but the second version (the original used in the novel) accounts for the rhythm of dialogue, the way people tend to process information as they read, AND the greater context of the story, and as a result packs significantly more purpose, information, and effect into the same exact set of words

and THAT, folks, is the kind of editing minutia i can literally sit and hyperfocus on for hours without noticing. anyway it's a good book lmao

the one i'm reading now is a lot more about the cognitive process/es of editing, so there's less concrete and specific advice (so far, anyway) and more discussion about different mental approaches to editing, as well as tips and tools for making a firm distinction between your writer brain and your editor brain, which is something i struggle with

but there have been so many good quotes that ive highlighted! a lot of just like. reminders and things to think about, and also just lovely articulations of things id thought of or come to understand in much more vague ways.

scribd won't let me copy/paste this one bc it's a document copy and not an actual ebook, but this passage is talking about how the simple act of showing a piece of writing to someone else for the very first time can spark a sudden shift in perspective on the work, bc you'll (or at least i) frantically try to re-read it through their eyes and end up noticing a bunch of new errors -

or she talked about the perils of constant re-reading in the middle of writing a draft, which is something i struggle with a LOT, both bc i'm a perfectionist and bc i prefer editing to writing so i sit and edit when i'm procrastinating doing the actual hard work of writing lmao

it's just this side of fake deep tbh but i so rarely see editing discussed like this--as a mixture of art and science, a collaboration between instinct and technique, that really requires "both sides of the brain" to be done well.

and because of the way my own brain works, activities that require such a balanced concentration of creativity and logic really appeal to me. even though ive seen a lot of people (even professional writers) who frame it as the creative art of writing vs the logical discipline of editing. but i think that's such a misleading way of thinking about it, because writing and editing both require creativity and logic -- just different kinds! (not to mention that the line between writing and editing, while mostly clear, can get a little blurry from up close)

but like...all stories have an inner logic to them, even if the writer hasn't explicitly or consciously planned it, and even if the logic is faulty in places in the first couple of drafts. when you're sitting and daydreaming about your story, especially if you're trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between two points or scenes (or, how to write a sequence of events that presents as a logical, inevitable progression of cause and effect), the voice in your head that evaluates an idea and decides to 1) go with it, 2) scrap it, 3) tweak it until it works, or 4) hold onto it in case you want it later? that's your logic! if an idea feels wrong, or like it just doesn't work, it's probably because some part of you is detecting a conflict between some part of the idea and the overall logic of your story. every decision you make as you write is formed by and checked against your own experiential logic, and also by the internal logic of your story, which is far less developed (or at least, one would hope), and therefore more prone to the occasional laspe

but while ive seen a number of articles that discuss the logic of writing, i don't see people gushing as much about the art of editing and it's such a shame

the inner editor is so often characterized as the responsible parent to the writer's carefree child, or a relentless critic of the writer's unselfconscious, unpolished drivel

and it's like... maybe you just hate thinking critically about your work! maybe you view it that way because you're imposing external standards too fiercely onto your writing, and it's sucked the joy out of shaping and sculpting your words until they sing. maybe you prefer to conceive of your writing as divine communication, the process of which must remain unencumbered by lessons learned through experience or the vulnerability of self-reflection, until the buzzkill inner editor shows up with all those "rules" and "conventions" that only matter if you're trying to get published

and like obviously the market doesn't dictate which conventions are worth following, but the majority of widely-agreed-upon writing standards, especially those aimed at beginners, (and most especially those regarding style, as opposed to story structure) have to do with the effectiveness and efficiency of prose, and, in addition to often serving as a shorthand for distinguishing an amateur from a pro, overall help to increase poignancy and clarity, which is crucial no matter the genre or type of writing. and even if you personally believe otherwise, it's better to understand the conventions so you can break them with real purpose.

so editing shouldn't be about trying to shove your pristine artistic masterpiece into a conventional mold, it should be about using the creative instincts of your ear and your logic and experience-based understanding of writing as a craft to hone your words until you've told your story as effectively as possible

thank u for coming to my ted talk ✌️

[unsurepotatohooman]

The Perfect Color

Fandom : TS Sides

Characters : Patton, Logan (Roman and Virgil are mentioned like once)

Genre : Fluff :))

Warnings : None

Word Count : 1884

Summary : Logan loves poetry, and Patton loves Logan. The moral side decides to mix the two.

A/N : I finally finished this story! It took about two hours to write after procrastinating for two and a half weeks and then I edited it a lil. I specifically wrote this fic for @dragonsaphirareads writing contest (who y’all should totally check out btw if you haven’t already). The song used is “Perfect Color” by SafteySuit which I happened to come across not too long ago and I loved it! It sounded so much like Patton so I had to give this a try!! Anyways, enough rambling. I hope you guys enjoy!

Work:

Patton gripped the paper in his hands as he made his way down the hall. He tried his best to keep from shaking but nerves were getting the best of him.

Everyone who knows Logan knows he loves poetry, but you would never know truly how much unless you paid attention. Patton always paid attention. He would observe Logan’s eyes and the way they sparkle like the stars. He would listen to the sound of Logan’s voice as his eyes scanned a particularly interesting piece, and he could hear the wall that Logan held his emotions behind break a little. He would giggle at the tone of Logan’s voice when he would assure Patton that he never sings, and that he only reads the poems. Though, he has rapped to Patton a few times on occasion before and after the video where he battles against Roman. Finally, Patton’s heart would swell as he saw the small smile adorn Logan’s features as he shared something so close with him to Patton, and the proud face he wore when Patton would reference something about poetry. Every time Patton got Logan to talk about poems, he would fall even harder for him.

This is why he decided to ask Logan for poetry lessons. They would visit the class room in Logan’s dream space and would write for hours every Sunday afternoon. Patton took a little while to catch on, and Logan got a little frustrated, but lesson after lesson Patton was finally understanding the concept of it, and had even written a few practice pieces for Logan. Logan was always pleased with Patton’s willingness to learn, and Patton found himself wishing the week away so he could see that smile on Logan’s face again.

It had been about four months since they had started those poetry sessions, and Patton finally admitted to himself that he had feelings for a certain tie-clad side. After a lengthy conversation with Roman, and another conversation with Virgil to help filter out the more... “extreme” suggestions from the creative side, Patton was ready to finally read his secret poem to Logan. He had begun writing it at about their third month in, and finally finished it last week. It took a whole week for him to work up the courage to even mention it to the logical side.

Patton walked up to the indigo colored door and eyed it with a timid expression. He closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths and tried to imagine that the situation wasn’t as intimidating as it seemed. Finally, he opened his eyes and knocked as cheerily as he could before he could put this off any longer. 

There were a few long strides from inside the room. Patton heard a lock click and the door slid open to reveal Logan, standing with his usual attire.

“Good afternoon, Patton.”

“Hey Lo lo!” Patton said happily even as the nerves were tearing him up from the inside.

Logan raised an eyebrow at the high pitch in Patton’s voice, but moved aside nonetheless.

“Actually Logan,” Patton started, “I was wondering if you could join me in my dreams space for this lesson.”

Logan gave Patton a skeptic look. “I don’t believe that will be a problem. Give me just a moment.” Logan walked back into his room and returned with a few notebooks and a journal full of his own poems.

“Oh!” Patton exclaimed, “You won’t need those. I’ve got us covered for today.”

“Oh?” Logan questioned, and Patton nodded.

“Yeah, I’ve got it! Don’t you sweat it!”

Logan looked down to his books and back to Patton. “Alright, I trust you Patton.” He then walked back in his room, placed the books down and joined Patton back in the hall.

“Ready?” Patton asked as Logan closed the door firmly behind him.

“Certainly.”

Patton took Logan’s hand and tried to ignore the color growing in his face. The two sunk down together and reappeared in Patton’s dream space, which at the moment, was pitch black.

“I must ask,” Logan started. “Why the sudden change? I know that change tends to not sit very well with you sometimes.”

“I just needed to try something new.” Patton smiled. He took his hand back from Logan, which helped his face to cool down, before snapping his fingers.

In an instant, the whole room around them began to change. Trees merged in from the darkness. In the branches there were fairy lights similar to the ones in Patton’s room. Their shoes disappeared revealing the ground underneath them as it turned to grass with various shades of different color flowers. Patton’s usual fatherly attire changed to a light blue, knee length dress. The rainbow trim matched the many different colored flowers in his flower crown. Logan had also gained a flower crown too of the same kind. Patton couldn’t help but feel a little self conscious when he saw color come to the logical side's face.

“P-patton, what’s going on?” Logan stuttered.

The moral side took a deep breath as he calmed the last bit of anxiety before finally speaking up. “I want to read you a poem.”

Logan had an intrigued but confused look on his reddening face. “You do?”

“Mhm.” Patton hummed, taking Logan’s hands again, “But I have to sing it to you.”

Logan didn’t even sigh at the fact that he was going to listen to another song, which Patton took as his que to begin. Music came from a record player that spawned near the tree line on the edge of the clearing as Patton began to sing.

Yellow nice to meet you

Do you know that you just blue my mind?

It was the perfect conversation, I think that I red about one time

I told a white lie when I told you, I’ve never been green with envy you,

You are the perfect color

Logan rolled his eyes at the very obvious word play, but immediately stopped when Patton pulled Logan to him and began to dance. The moral side’s voice filled the air as he led Logan through the flowy movements as they followed the song.

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh

The two sides spun around awkwardly, slowly sinking more and more into the music. Patton and Logan’s faces were both bright red as Patton moved into the verse.

To the misfit and the freaks,

To the outcasts and the geeks,

To the weird kids that don’t care

Cause you feel like you’re not there

To the ones who won’t look in

To the mirror because you’re scared

Don’t let the haters hate become your own, oh, no, no

The logical side focused on the lyrics as he looked down at their feet. Patton knew that Logan, like everyone else at some point in their life, had struggled with being the odd one out. With being the weird, nerd character in Thomas’ videos. Just like everyone else, Logan struggled with his own image and feelings on a daily basis. Patton knew he did even though it was difficult for many to see through Logan’s walls.

Now there is going to always be someone who thinks that art has no meaning

Who looks up at the Sistine Chapel and only sees a ceiling

But you, you you

Well you know what I would say to you?

You know what I would say to you?

Logan met Patton’s eyes as the moral side’s voice grew stronger with the emotion of the song. Their feet swept across the blades of grass as Patton led them along a little faster.

Yellow nice to meet you

Do you know that you just blue my mind?

It was the perfect conversation, I think that I red about one time

I told a white lie when I told you, I’ve never been green with envy you,

You are the perfect color

Their gaze broke as Patton’s face melted into a mischievous smile. Before Logan knew it, he was being twirled around by Patton.

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Patton pulled Logan back to himself allowing a small giggle to escape his lips during a pause in lyrics. Logan looked at him with wide eyes, but he didn’t say anything. The moral side took Logan by both of his hands and pulled back as he looked him in the eyes.

And in a perfect world

I’d get to say

It’s just black and white

There’s no room for grey

And there’s a color scheme inside every heart

Ours won’t be complete until we have yours

So yellow nice to meet you

Patton’s volume rose before falling into almost a soft whisper as he pulled Logan back in and the two began to slow dance, rocking side to side. The flowers in their crowns brightened as the song went on, the music fuling their vibrant shades.

Yellow nice to meet you

Do you know that you just blue my mind?

It was the perfect conversation, I think that I red about one time

I told a white lie when I told you, I’ve never been green with envy you,

You are the perfect color

Ooh, ooh, ooh

The music came back in full force, Patton’s voice rising back up with the volume as he poured his heart and soul out to the man he was holding and who was holding him.

Yellow nice to meet you

Do you know that you just blue my mind?

It was the perfect conversation, I think that I red about one time

I told a white lie when I told you, I’ve never been green with envy you,

You are the perfect color

Ooh, ooh, ooh

As the song came to a close, Logan spun Patton around before bringing the shorter of the two back in. Both of them were out of breath after all of the movement. The air filled with their breathless laughter as they clung to each other's arms. They slow danced for a while, even as the song faded out leaving them with the chirping of crickets and a light, blowing breeze.

“Logan?” Patton finally broke the silence.

“Hm?” Logan hummed, his eyes flickering to Patton as the moral side pulled away to look him in the face.

“I love you, so much. I had no idea how else to tell you.” He smiled sheepishly. “What do you think?”

Logan smiled. He smiled that smile that Patton loved so much that was reserved for the precious things in Logan’s life. The look that the taller of the two repressed to keep up his serious persona. He let down his walls to Patton, and Patton couldn’t ask for anything more as the words left Logan’s lips.

“I think we do make the perfect color.”

They pulled each other close and met in the middle as their lips touched. It was short and new but still filled with so much anxious passion that got both of their thoughts across quickly. When they pulled away, Patton burrowed into Logan’s chest as the two hugged, swaying from side to side as they enjoyed the last few moments of their Sunday afternoon together.

It’s safe to say that this became their new spot for their poetry meets.

[mappinglasirena]

Mapping La Sirena

Welcome one and all to the Mapping La Sirena Project!

If you are a fan of Star Trek: Picard and you would like to know more about the show’s most prominent ship, to check out floor plans and screencaps, and to discuss theories about the layout of this magnificent vessel, this is will be the place for you!

(Long, slightly rambly introduction and masterpost after the cut ;] )

Hi! My name is Lili and I’ve been a fan of pretty much all things Star Trek ever since I started watching Voyager at the tender age of 6. Besides the sometimes goofy, often brilliant storytelling and the wonderful characters, I always loved the worldbuilding of these shows - and in particularly the starships.

When Star Trek: Picard started airing a  few months ago, I was immediately drawn to the main ship, La Sirena. The mixture of the monumental physical set, judiciously used CGI, and sheer attention to detail made me fall madly in love with this little mermaid, and I wanted to find out every little thing about her that I possibly could. And since I imagine, I’m not the only one who feels this way, I decided to take you all on this journey with me!

What am I doing here?

As a reader and writer of fanfic, I know how helpful it can be to have a clear sense of the location your story is set in. When I realized that a good month after the final episode of ST:PIC season one aired, there still was no floor plan of La Sirena easily found on the web (easily = using my very limited googling-skills), I figured somebody had to sit down and do it. And apparently, that somebody was me. (May the gods help us all =D)

So, I sat myself down, and over the course of a few long days screencapped every single last scrap of Sirena that appears on the show. I now have a library of reference images and will post my progress as I work through them, trying to determine questions about the general layout of this ship, the details of its architecture and furnishings and all the questions that still remain. By the end of it, I am pretty confident that I will have a mostly accurate floorplan of the set that was used on the show (at least the parts of it that were shown to us thus far). We might even end up with the basis for a plan of the ship as it would exist in-universe (more on the movie set vs. “real place” issue later).

The following soon-to-be-links might give you an idea of what I plan to post over the next few months and I’ll keep adding links to this post as I go. So, without (even more) ado: Have fun exploring La Sirena!

Schematics & Floor Plans

A very crude first sketch

Official Set plan

We finally have an official set plan from the Ready Room!

A First Deeper Look at the Ready Room set plans

Centred Floor Plans from Set Me Up + cross section & more designs

Layout of the Captain’s Quarters

Shape and size

How large is La Sirena as seen on the show and is she larger on the inside?

Upper Deck

The Bridge

Where is the Holodeck?

Picard’s Study

Transporter Pad and Engine

The Trouble with Locating the Quarters/Conference Room

Crew Quarters

Captain’s Quarters

A closer Look at the windows

Conference room

The Mysterious Back End of the Ship

Crates, Tanks, Boxes, and Miscellania

Lower Deck

The Mess

Sickbay: Pt. 1: Size and Construction; Pt. 2: Furniture

So Many Nets

The Wall Problem, aka. Mysterious Nonexistent Corridors

Cargo Bay and other Speculative Spaces

Is there a dedicated cargo bay at the back of the ship?

Where are the rest of the crew quarters hidden?

Overall Design and Technological Aspects

A quick rundown of the Engine placement and history

Some Considerations

Tv Set vs . Starship

The set of La Sirena is just that, a tv set. When building a set, there are many constraints of time, budget, and practicality that will force the creatives to make decisions that will not always make sense when mapped onto a “real” starship. Take, for example, the fact that the Captain’s Quarters and the Conference Room were likely filmed in the same physical set, just redressed for the occasion.

Of course, there can always be Watsonian explanations for these kinds of incongruities and I’d love to hear people’s takes or read fics about them (after all, the entirety of La Sirena is apparently equipped with holoemitters, so I suppose technically, anything is possible).

But I am sticking with the Doylian “it’s a movie set” approach and will generally ignore these kinds of problems when trying to draft an in-universe-accurate floorplan of what we can know of the ship so far. I will be very diligent about pointing out whenever I handwave anything, though, so if you want to stick as closely to what we actually see on the whoe, you’ll know which parts of my analysis/headcanon to disregard ;)

Questions about “silly little details”

I have spend a ridiculous amount of time on this little project so far and in the course of it have gotten pretty familiar with a lot of aspects of the interior and exterior of this amazing starship. If you have any questions regarding details about what we can see of La Sirena on the show, please ask me and I will do my best to help! I absolutely love digging into the really nitpicky, tiny little scraps of information, and at this point, I can probably tell you straight away which scene might provide the info you’re looking for or whether there likely is no answer and you’ll have to get creative. So if you don’t feel like scrubbing through the entire 10 episodes of Picard to find out, say, the colour of the plates produced by Sirena’s replicators, please shoot me an ask, I’m always utterly delighted to help! (They’re white, btw.)

And just to make clear what I mean by “tiny little details”: in the course of writing some of my stories, I have collected answers to such important questions as

On which side of the desk does Rios have his chair? (Both)

How many cups are on the shelf next to the replicators? (4, even when one of them is currently in use)

Could a football roll under the railing on the upper deck and fall down into the mess hall anywhere but where the stairs go down? (No, there is a raised edge all around the rim that would catch it. Bouncing would work, though, since the space between the railing bars is large enough.)

Could I just say “Fuck it, I’ll just write it however, because it really doesn’t matter at all?” Yes. Would it be better for my sanity? Probably. Will I still keep trying to figure out as much about this crazy little ship as I possibly can at every turn? You betcha! So, no question is too silly, please ask away!!

A Quick Thought on Fanfic and “Accuracy”

This whole project started because whenever I write fanfic or make up stories set on La Sirena, my brain keeps insisting that we need to know which side of the mess hall the replicators are on! We need to know where exactly the holodeck is located and whether a football could fall to the lower deck through the railing. I would never hold anyone to these standards of “accuracy” - in fact I frequently don’t hold myself to these standards. Fic is for creative expression, so if in your imagination, La Sirena is twice the size of what we see in the show and has a ton of additional rooms and features, I would love to read that story! I want to create a resource for anyone looking for Sirena references to get inspired, not to point out inconsistencies or canon-divergence in lovingly created fanworks. I hope it comes across that way =)

[ghostly-thorn]

Behind The Writing - 4 - The Turrfield Gym - Uplifting Roots

🎵 A bit of Ambiance 🎵

Greetings everyone !

Coming faster than expected is this 4th Chapter. Zera takes on her very first Gym battle and I was excited as hell to write it, though I’ve had some difficulty timing everything right... I’ll explain more later on.

I hope this hasn’t decreased in quality since I (kinda) forced myself to write. For those who don’t know, my deployment in an old people’s home is coming to an end. By the 22th of May i’ll have a free week, before returning to the hospital for a 6-week internship. During that “free” week I’ll have to work on an 8-page essay to validate my semester. It’s fine on its own, the issue I have though is that I have to surrender it by June the 12th, right in the middle of my internship. I didn’t want to keep you waiting so long (considering I’ve gained such a fanbase, THANK YOU!) so I figured I should post it this weekend, come what may!!!

And here we are now. Without further do, let’s dive into this 4th BTW. Did you pick on my every references? We’ll see about that!

Starting off strongly with a hint at Rose’s true nature. I mentioned in the text that he used to be a miner. Bells would rung as he was heading to work to die a little more everyday. They were said to protect their miners, but failed to do so with Rose. I will say nothing else, just know I don’t leave stones unturned. So here’s a commission I’ve ordered from hx.storia. The title of the track that goes with this art is Artorias’ theme from Dark Souls. The rest is up to you my friends...

Our future Champion, so graceful in her sleep...

For those who haven’t seen it yet, I’ve made a post about Voice Headcanons for SwSh. In it, Milo is dubbed by Nial Horan, an irish actor. Now I know Isle of Armor is supposed to be Ireland... Or is it Scotland? I don’t remember. Either way! It’s my Fic and I’m free to do whatever I want. No, that sounded awful. Aaaaanyway. Milo is Irish and I tried my best to depict that in this Chapter, though I’m not native so it was hard at times. All of this to say that Hop tried imitating the Gym Leader. “Top of the morning” is even an irish greeting. And believe me, I’ve looked a lot of slang for this Chapter!... *sighs* the things I would do for you...

I changed a bit the texting format for this chapter as when I’ve re-read Castling I felt like something was off. Now Zera’s texts will be located on the right, whereas any recipient will be on the left. Basically, like a real phone. Also, if there are several ✉ on different lines, it means that the people is spamming. I hope this was clear enough for you on your first read.

Raihan is such a jerk... But we love him nonetheless. Blackmailing poor Zee like that... unfair. But at the same time, this marks the beginning of their relationship and BOY, do I reserve some fluff for you

In the meantime, Zera will be flushed at Raihan’s every flirt attempt. Still, she’ll resist... for now

Zera may have inherited her mother’s purple eyes and white complexion, but she did get her hair from her Father. As mentioned in another BTW, Rose comes from india where most people have straight silky hair.

Here’s another commission from the incredible M0nomercy. This will be Zera’s look for the rest of the Challenge. Make sure you remember it

I mentioned Tesco in the text. I don’t live in the UK, but apparently it’s like the local groceries store. And since I’m writing a realistic fanfic, well here it is. I’ve been to London quite a few times but I’ve never seen any, I was mostly going to Boots

I wanted to make Scorbunny evolve before he reached Turrfield. However I wasn’t planning on letting Zera rest on her laurels. Because I hate Mary Sues I try to complicate my OC’s life as much as I can. Therefore I’ve had Raboot flee into the wild.

That is the reason why I’ve had Raboot behave like an angsty teen. I haven’t watched the new anime yet. At least, like any decent fangirl I just watched the Leon and Gengar Episodes, but from the GIFs I’ve seen Gou’s Raboot is pretty much the same

The idea for the kick in Hop’s face came from this extract of Bleach, an anime you must watch. The characters are Hiyori Sarugaki (the girl) and Urahara Kisuke.

Rose came from India at a very young age. Makes sense that he would bring his own values with him, amongst them, karma.

He played the drama queen by saying he was unable to breathe and needed mouth-to-mouth, but you swiftly put him back in his place with a slap.

-        “Ow!... I'm not sure that's how you treat people, Zee...”

As a Nurse I can certify. That is how we treat people

Here is best boy’s League card. Must protecc. and also the caption that reads on it

This Pokémon Trainer got endorsed to take part in the Gym Challenge by his brother—the reigning Champion, Leon. Hop claims to have watched all Leon's matches. Commentators speculate that as a result, he might be quite the force to be reckoned with. The Champion himself has said that his brother has potential, but his carefully hoarded knowledge can go to waste as he tends to get easily flustered in battle. It's said that Hop's partner Wooloo is a great help to him both in battle and with chores around the house.

I like to think that the Gym Challenger have specialty on their medias. Like their League Cards are numerically available on their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and so on.

Here’s Haunter being a good boy and clapping whenever he’s happy.

All the opponent on Route 3 are the same as in the game. Even the Pokémons Zera encountered.

-        “I don't care! You hurt my girlfriend and now you're gonna get bruised” (He screamed, trying to sound as menacing as a 5-year-old could be…)

You and Haunter exchanged a shocked look before bursting out in laughter, to the dismay of the boy who just wanted to be respected.

If you guessed this was a reference to the Shrek and Donkey laughing meme, well you guessed right

It could not resist commenting on all the encounters you had with wild Pokémon. Even to the extent of learning your reactions to evade your hands when it left your pocket. It was learning...

Rose’s influence throughout the country was compared to a Tentacruel’s arms. A fitting metaphor I believe. The GIF is from James Bond’s Spectre opening that you can find here. Eva Green. Mention of ghosts and unreachable tyrans? Sounds familiar...

Haunter floated above you and pretended to squint, crossing his hands like Aladdin's genie.

Can you see it? Can you see it?! I CAN! genie!Haunter is canon, fight me

If Haunter is the genie, then Raboot is Puss in boots

A woman stopped you on the way, just as massive as the previous one. She reminded you of a character from one of your favourite TV shows... 

Please tell me I’m not the only one who thought of Briene of Tarth when I saw the female!Worker

Haunter after missing all his attack on Digglet

-        “I can see how you made it this far” (The beastly woman spoke) “Though I must urge you to leave as soon as you can. This is no place for children”

-        “Ch-Children?” (You blew a fuse and your eyes started twitching)

Brienne!Worker urging Teen!Zera to leave the mines 👀

As if by magic, the young man sensed your presence, or perhaps that of your ghostly partner, since he was a Psychic-type Trainer: a kind of human Anticipation. 

Anticipation is an ability that senses the foe’s dangerous moves. Here I insinuate that Bede has the same ability since he instantly senses your presence

Bede has been adopted by the Chairman a few years ago. He would do anything to please his foster father, much like Oleana does. You’ll see that in the next Chapter “Deceiving Waters”. That is the reason why he gets so triggered when Zera mocks Rose.

I’m sorry. But Gothita looks so fucking silly... Her whole line is fucked

-        “Don’t grow over your head twat. I’m just giving your Pokémon a little chance to shine, that’s all”

Then all of a sudden, a wave of calm washed over him, putting out the fire that burned inside him. He looked much more civil now.

-        “Oh dear, what have I been doing? Well, whatever. Let us just get this over with”

You had totally wrecked him, yet after the utter shock cleared out he still found the courage to sound smug. He seemed to boil from inside, before throwing his head to the side and raising his fist in a clench

-        “I see… Well that’s fine. I wasn’t really trying all that hard anyway”

I hoped you enjoyed Milo’s first introduction. I sure did. As I’ve mentioned before, he’s irish in here and uses quite a lot of slang (I’ve had to research for your greatest pleasure). I’m going to make a list of all the terms he’s been using and their meanings

Sham ⌦ Friend

Bang on ⌦ Right, accurate, correct

Banjaxed ⌦ to break sth, broken

Culchie ⌦ Person from rural / agricultural area

Away on ⌦ an expression of surprise

“You know it already, but my name’s Milo”

“Y-yeah…” (You muttered as he kept awkwardly shaking your hand) “You’re quite famous”

“Think so? I do not think much of myself to be honest. I’m good with raising me pokes’ in peace”

“Sounds like the best life”

“It’s a peaceful life” (He retorted in a childish grin)

Already he was shielding his face from a possible blow, yet you restrained yourself.

Afterwards you settled down on the terrace of a bar - the only one in town - to enjoy a coffee. As expected, the locals were very friendly with you, even as to serve you a second and third shot on the house.

Them Turrfy people... such good lads...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the most gracious Pokémon Arceus has graced us with. Yamper is a good boy. No... he’s the goodest boy.

There she was, leaning against one of the railings encircling the platform. Her ginger hair was rippling under the late afternoon summer breeze. Seen like this, she looked frightfully pretty, which could only infuriate you.

-        “Seems likely. It certainly looks like a gigantic Pokémon” (Sonia confirmed your theory before sighing) “I suppose people 1000 years ago could not just have imagined this, but it looks too similar to Dynamax. It can’t just be coincidence”

So in the game Sonia says 3000 ago, but I reduced it to 1000. Surely you know why...

She drew a sigh and hopped off the ledge, pacing back and forth while fiddling her hair in a familiar manner.

-        “Guess I’m the lucky lady who’ll be lookin’ into that. Gran sure gives me a lot to do”

Milo’s League Card and caption

This Trainer was born as the son of farmers. He has honed his strength, stamina, and skill as a Pokémon Trainer from a young age by working together with his Pokémon. Because of his gentle nature, he has trouble going all out on weaker opponents, which is why his Gym is the first one for challengers to attempt during the Gym Challenge. He always wears his boots, as apparently they let him dig in his heels when he needs to.

As for Mareanie, she could not get a state-of-the-art bathtub this time, so you made do with it and descended to the reception desk to ask for a bucket. Surprisingly, they handed you one quite easily, claiming that during St-Patrick those buckets fulfilled another use… you were now looking at it with disgust. 

Yeah you guessed it right. It’s used to collect people’s vomit.

You bounced out of bed, crashing to the ground two meters below. “Bunkbeds”, you had forgotten. 

When I was little, I used to spend whole nights playing videogames with my brother. Often, during the morning I would fall off it. So I feel you Zera, me too...

Of course there would be a reference to Twilight Wings

✉ Hey-a Champ’ in the making 👑🧗🏻‍♀️

✉ Got Hop on the 🤙🏽📱. He told me you were going to face Milo today 🌿

✉ Good luck! 😁🤞🏽☘️

You sighed amorously and Haunter pulled your cheek until you came out of your trance.

Oh Haunter... you’re such a homie. Protecting your Trainer like this.

Luckily, the explanations came very quickly in the form of a short blond man with a large moustache and exorbitant eyes. He introduced himself as Dan, the Mission Manager of that first Gym. He must have been in his fifties or so and tried his best to use a bit of millennial humour... with no success.

-        “Your mission... should you choose to accept it...”

👀...

You did not like being filmed however (you would be broadcasted live on Galar1), but you had no choice but to deal with it.

Galar1 is the name of the main channel of the country. As you’ve guessed it, it’s the equivalent of BBC.

A presenter's voice announced your name and origin as the mission was about to begin.

“Welcome everyone! My name is Caesar and I’ll be your host throughout the whole Gym Challenge. I’m accompanied here by Mr Crane”

“Caesar, it’s a pleasure as always.”

“Dear, the pleasure is all mine. So…” (The blue-haired host said while rubbing his hands) “What do we have here?”

“This is one of the two Champion-endorsed Challenger” (Replied his coworker while reading his sheet) “Her name is Zera”

“Zera what?”

“Just Zera” (He insisted) “We don’t know much about her except that’s she’s from the small village of Postwick”

“Where in the blazes is that?” (Ceasar unnecessarily joked)

“Eh. Somewhere deep in the South I believe”

“Well, Zera-from-somewhere-deep-in-the-south, good luck!”

I bet I made some of you squeal when you read that. To all the Hunger Games fans, *Rue sign*.

Also, Crane is a reference to Seneca Crane, the useless operator of Katniss’ first games

You were now free to carry on your way and climbed the stairs leading out of the dome. Once at the top you turned and smiled for the camera, waving to your audience. Then you left the place as they commented on your flawless performance. You were commended for your sharp and calm mind even in stressful situations.

(Hoh... you’re approaching me?)

You’ll see throughout the next Chapters, but every Gym Leader will have an “entrance music”. Obviously Milo’s had “Irish Party In Third Class”.

You backed away until you reached a mark on the second circle of the track. As you stepped on it, a red hexagonal barrier rose up all around you before instantly disappearing. These were the standard protections for Pokémon matches. Some attacks could sometimes have the unfortunate tendency to miss, and since the Trainers were behind... Oof, there had been some terrible accidents. Luckily, your father's company had managed to develop this technology to ensure the safety of any self-respecting Trainer. At least something he had done right… 

Yet another idea coming from Bleach, but not entirely. Obviously I was inspired by Urahara’s Sword’s power, but also from the Pokemon Anime. During that battle with Leon, Ash or Lance (one of them) uses an overpowering Max Move that hit the audience, or would have if there hadn’t been any protections. There was this kind of red barrier that appeared and I figured why not have one for Trainers as well? It’s quite dangerous battling, but we don’t realize it. Remember in Chapter 2 when Rose had to duck to the side to avoid Volcarona’s flamethrower? Here’s a ready why safety matters.

FINALLY! MY FIRST GYM BATTLE! BOY, I WAS EXCITED

I have been listening to the track for hours on end, but never grew bored of it. The issue I’ve had though was with the timing in the song. It was a bit wonky and for the sake of realism I had to re-use timings even if you hadn’t finished listening to the track. I’m... not sure I make sense... Usually when I write, I pay attention to the song’s length and try to write so that when you read it at a normal pace you can follow with the music on. BUT I COULDN’T DO THAT HERE. So I tried to patch it up to the best of my ability... I hope this was readable nonetheless

So here’s Milo’s Team for this first encounter, at least in the game. Here in the Fic I’ve given more attacks to his Pokémon, lest the battle would have ended in two minutes. As you can see, Gossifleur’s movepool is essentially normal-type, hence why Milo tells Zera she had complicated his life. Also, he uses Protect which he can’t learn. Believe me, I’ve checked their movepools and so I had to fiddle a little...

I also gave Effect Spore, a hidden ability, to Gossifleur. We need more drama in those battles

-        “Simply brilliant” (He started in a quiet voice) “But we’re not going to be done in that easy! We’re tough as weeds!”

-        “Then I’ll weed you out!”

That is when the moment arrived. Milo threw his arm to the side, a white bracelet sparkling on his wrist. A red glow emanated from it and you knew what was about to happen.

-        “Come on, then! It is Dynamax time! You’re about to be uprooted!”

A large 831 appeared on the screens as Milo was filmed from behind, then the camera focused on his face more determined than ever. He called his Pokémon back into battle and harnessed the power of his bracelet. His Pokéball turned pink and indented, like the pieces of a puzzle, and then it grew, growing to at least five times its size. You wondered how you could achieve the same feat. Milo had the muscles to hold such a mass, but not you! There ensued an adorable moment when he held his Ball close to him, gently tapping its surface. Then he threw the ball behind him about 20 meters away.

Then you recalled your Pokémon with a determined face.

-        “So? How do you like Max Geyser?”

-        “A little cold” (You teased with a smile) “But I'm not done yet!”

-        “Good! That’s the spirit!... That will really leave you in shock and awe. It’s our Dynamax move, Eldegoss, Max Overgrowth!”

Winning her very first Gym Battle. you can even see the Grassy Terrain effect because of the leaf fluttering. However there was no rain when I fought Milo, which is obvious given the fact Eldegoss doesn’t know any Water-type moves

For the avid players, surely you’ve noticed the NPC present at every Gym throughout the game. She has no name but I decided to call her Gina in honor of the Character in Brooklyn Nine Nine. I had binge watched the show last year and she had been stuck in my mind for months.

And this my friend marks the end of our very own Behind The Writing. I hope you enjoyed this new post and I invite you to stay tuned for the next Chapter. Unfortunately, It might not release until mid-June, or beginning of July. As I’ve mentionned in another post, I have an essay to surrender + I’m starting a new Internship which means I’ll be real busy. Still, I’m your faithful servant and I’ll try to keep on working the next Chapter

WE’LL HAVE MORE ROSE AND ZERA INTERACTIONS THEN. And considering how much you loved the first one, I’ll be sure to give you what you need on the next Chapter! also, Zera will get to see her stepsister after 7 years, now that’s something i’m looking forward to write...

Take care!

[unproduciblesmackdown]

i was gonna send an ask like "have you considered: 'anger is a type of geography' + 4x11" and then i checked and you actually had! but if you feel like considering it More then here's a free space

oh thanks for these Layers of Allyship re: humoring my repeated [anger geography sign tapping] and checking for things and then sending me asks about it all to invite yet more Consideration.........yeah i feel like i mentioned it at least once in tags or smthing lol??? but here comes yet more consideration / giving it an In The Text post if that doesn’t exist already yet either

the Anger Is A Type Of Geography Quote From Hanif Abdurraqib in question for everyone’s reference:

anger is a type of geography. the ways out of it expand the more you love a person. the more forgiveness you might be willing to afford each other opens up new and unexpected roads. and so, for some, staying angry at someone you love is a reasonable option. to stay angry at someone you know will forgive your anger is a type of love, or at least it is a type of familiarity that can feel like love.

like, yeah sure what with winston originally talking to lauren and mafee about this and taylor Happening to walk in on it, he probably wasn’t necessarily planning to go off on his Indignant Monologue to taylor right then and there, but the fact remains that he was willing to do so, and i definitely think that that wouldn’t be the case if he didn’t have this Respect for them and think that they have respect for him in turn, and if he didn’t also think that that mutual respect is holding hands with mutually valuing each other. like, he wouldn’t say it if he didn’t think taylor might actually listen / consider what he says, and he wouldn’t even Want to say it if he didn’t give a shit about them, because he’s not just complaining about “um i simply ask for more money,” it’s about the fact he Feels Disrespected by the implied deprioritization of tmc employees and that the way this (false lol) choice is presented to them being Unfair and disingenuous. like, you could (and im sure most viewers do) interpret the other stuff he says as just him backing up his “Pay Me” argument when all he really cares about is the Pay Me part, but a) that’s not how We roll and b) doesn’t make sense with winston being just as happy as anyone else in 4x12with taylor Apologizing re: many of these 4x11 points, despite them not saying they were gonna change the Bonus situation lol, and c) it Does make sense to think that the Mutual Respect between taylor and winston matters to him due to [see: the rest of this post]

well wait lol first of all yeah sure the money Must matter to him b/c nobody could possibly be in the world of High Finance as a passion project (except for taylor apparently lmao cuz i mean we know that the Real reason they are determined to stick with hedge fundery (and involved in the first place) is b/c they are the best part of the show and elevate all the other Lesser Elements of it as well) and also we can figure that this was probably winston’s first year working a Big Time Official Job and he doesn’t have the savings that other ppl might when they’ve been in the business multiple years, and this seems to be backed up by lauren referring to him as they guy who’d be the First One Smothered by either taking a bonus cut by 40% or not getting that bonus at all until a whole other year, which, like he seems to also imply, is also Unhelpful in that surely these investment finance people turn around and invest their own finances, and Bonus Now is better than Bonus Then b/c.....interest....Long Shares.......and also just like tfw you want your job to pay you.......but anyways Seriously [next paragraph]

cuz winston *must* be working at Taylor Mason Capital b/c he really values working with taylor more than, say, wanting a job that will make him the most money, or will necessarily look the best on a resumé if he’s just looking to up his stats, b/c yeah, this is sure an unlikely opportunity for him where this is what we’re assuming is his First Fancy Job and he’s getting to be the Top Quant right out of the gate, but he must also know that like, it’s still like “oh so you were head quant at a brand new fund :/” and also he must know that there’s a Risk with said fund and he might even end up having been head quant at a new fund that burned out really quick, super impressive........and, we Know that winston *knows* how good he is at what he does, even though he keeps getting dunked on for that like he’s sooo conceited lol like. he IS that good, sorry!!!! why should he downplay it, we don’t actually see him being one of these shitheads with a fragile ego trying to prove themselves Superior or whatever.....ANYWAYS yeah the point being that, winston claiming to have a lot of offers already in the interview might very well Not be any kind of bluff, and he’d surely know that he could rise through the Quant Ranks quickly enough at some other fund even if he started out as anything but Our Main Quant at those places.......and if Getting Tf Paid Top Dollar was really his primary concern, “go with the brand new hedge fund which doesn’t have Established History / Experience / Clout and has the one big investor but who knows what’ll come next and any business that Just opened is not your safest bet even if you trust in your own skill and in that of your ceo and you Know that even if you’re not immediately destroyed, funds will be tighter / of a Lesser Amount than at a bigger established fund”.........the now-dramatic-irony of him talking about how those Tech Firms Out West pay guarantees, not bonuses.........like, when he was trying to get onboard with axe cap, he was obvs interested in trying to leverage to get Paid more, which is like, not necessarily winston wanting to be a trillionaire but also just how stupidly everyone’s supposed to like Play The Game of negotiating / leveraging / calling your employer’s bluff to get a certain starting salary / get a raise or whatever, dumb as hell baked-in Requirement........discuss your wages with coworkers gang!!! anyways. and but Also winston makes it clear when interviewing for axe cap that Working With Taylor Mason has appeal, even if he’s flippant about it, cuz he’s flippant about all of it cuz that’s his shtick here.....

like, when it’s Taylor Alone who calls him back eventually, he’s fine with meeting up with Just Them, and later on meeting up with Just Them (and the other quants, rip) again, and agrees to work in this lil basement evidently Not on axe cap premises b/c he’d been at axe cap’s offices and this is Not That Place......and yeah him talking about taylor selling axe on using his algorithm in kompenso sure implies that winston has this whole time Assumed that all of this was still ultimately in the service of axe cap.......and he was apparently fine with reporting to Taylor Alone and not getting to rub elbows with any other higher-ups, and he’s obviously pleased well enough with a “good work :)” from taylor and isn’t like “hey be sure to tell axe & co i did this singlehandedly etc” or anything, and he’s not really complaining about the whole “work in this lil basement Not at axe cap hq with taylor mason dropping in at least once to check on you and that’s about it” situation, which obviously is hardly that “You’re A Valued Axe Cap Employee” treatment one might expect if they wanted that.....winston’s glad that taylor called him, he’s trying to appeal to them and what *they* want to see rather than how he tried to go for what he thinks [a place like axe cap] would wanna see like he did in the interview, he’s showing up at this weird basement rendezvous to be on a 3 person quant team of taylor’s, he’s fine to not only do this on his own but also accept those increased demands that make it a [fifty(? or 15, either way) phds would work on this]-Level task, and then he’s glad just to have taylor’s approval at the end of the day.......they Wouldn’t have been able to promise him any leverage of “please do your best work on this” with like, promotions / clout within axe cap or axe-cap-levels of Lots Of Payment b/c like, well taylor wouldn’t outright lie anyways but also Especially wouldn’t if they wanted to keep this quant around for tmc, so winston must never have been asking about that kind of thing

and then, bless your Missing Scene fic but there’s zero canon content re: “uh how/when did taylor break it to winston that this algorithm was for their own fund actually and btw do you want to work for that fund instead,” but presumably it went smoothly enough, he was already happy to Effectively work for them alone apparently even if he still thought that yeah, he was working for taylor who was working for axe........just Yeah altogether it’s evident that “Working With Taylor Mason” must matter more to him than “working with any Other big name financiers” or “getting paid as much as he can get” or “raking in that clout asap to leverage with Other jobs or just like, in general.”

and then of course you have the fact that taylor is Recognizing his ability by calling him back and offering him this job, going “despite your demeanor your skills are superior” and “those other two were sweet, but you’re more talented, i need you,” [praying hands emoji], and giving him this Second Chance and entrusting him with this Solo re: building this algorithm which, unbeknownst at the time to him, is really this linchpin of their hopes & dreams of launching their own secret fund here, and really they must’ve been planning from the start to keep him around if he succeeded b/c it’s not like the algorithm and their whole planned Quant Department wouldn’t continue to be integral to the fund’s success, it wouldn’t really be ideal to have this guy be the one to build an algorithm to reel in an investor who’s working in.....wait for it......billions of dollars here, and then be like, okay bye dude. they must Know how good he is same as winston knows how good he is, and him being Head Quant from the very start was surely never just about mase cap having precious few employees at the very start of things....they could’ve like given him that Lead Position temporarily or whatever, they’re ceo. but they really do value him as like, maybe he doesn’t have the ideal ~personality~ for what fucking ever, either for being Properly Assertive and Impressively Flashy like axe cap might want, or just easy to work with, which taylor would care more about than axe cap would lol, but yknow, they value his Abilities and surely they must also value his efforts re: I Promise To Try and re: his really singlehandedly making that brilliant amazing algorithm which evidently did the trick as they hoped it would

and then......dare i get to the Emotional part of things, the Interpersonal....the anger and the love...............

i mean already when winnie n tay are having their post-math-meetup meetup, aka the first time they’re meeting After their disastrous really-first meeting aka the Interview, you have winston taking a way more grounded approach to this “yeah i want to work for you please accept me” process which is obviously in response to what he thinks Taylor wants from him based on the mess of the interview, evident thanks to winston telling them that he’s been thinking about all of that.......and i mean, part of taylor’s whole thing is they have that grounded approach pretty much always lol, (or try to....Want to...), but they sure seem to Also be bringing this effort to Accommodate him based on the hot mess of the interview, wherein yeah they wouldn’t’ve expected to have to ever interact again with this person they were dunking into the trash (and of course from that Meta Perspective, the scene when originally written was meant to be winston’s only appearance ever), but they really seem to also be bringing a more dialed down approach, letting him talk first and going along with his “you ever done math meetup” intro until he’s the one who changes the subject, and i really see that Head Tilt as a sympathetic one lol, not necessarily like “awww :’0″ levels lmao but still like. they Know he’s likely to have some [emotional vulnerability] re: what last went down between them since they weren’t especially gentle with him then, and they like, demonstrably give a shit about that fact lol. they’re also not just wholly swinging in the other direction to make up for it or anything lol but they’re Also making it clear that, yknow, they’re willing to work with him For Real, not just in this “are you willing to work for me, y/n, okay great” way, but in this way of [winston making an effort to make things easier on taylor] and [taylor making an effort to make things easier on winston] which is already playing out here between them.

and the whole matter of winston’s seemingly genuine Dismay at messing up even part of this exchange, i.e. the “[wince-ston] damn it, sorry,” like, sure maybe he just really wants the job, but [see: everything above about how he Must primarily want to work with taylor re: wanting any of these jobs lol] and, after all, he “oh shit, sorry”s @ them when he’s well-established as their Head Quant in ep 4x08 and generally shows this directed-at-self displeasure at thinking he’s messed something up even without some clear “your (potential) job is on the line” element......he just Doesn’t Want To Disappoint Taylor Themself, doesn’t need some particular fear of further repercussion behind that.

and speaking of Lack Of Fear, you Know we love to point out how kompenso (and really winston’s :/ + “sure, why not :\”ness at the end of 3x09 lol) demonstrates that winston isn’t afraid of taylor either as an [intense and unusually-demeanor'd person who Does apparently strike people as Scary(tm) sometimes lol] or as this Esteemed Rising Star Axe Cap Higher-Up or simply as his de facto boss.........he’s not raring to tell them that the other quants bailed b/c of his own disapproval lol, but he’s honest as soon as they deduce as much, the tone of “fine, yes, big time” + his standing up to get even closer to them instead of just shaking in his desk chair like :c pls forgive me obviously does Not convey that he’s terrified of them, and then the rest of that interaction jsut being like, ugh god so fucking essential, they’re both able to stand face to face and be like I Am Looking Directly At It / I Do See It re: each other, both of them just continuing to be Honest and Direct with each other, God.....taylor might’ve swatted his metaphor away but he was not all that put out, and then they’re Using His Own Language by bringing it back three seconds later, like, yeah sure at this point they have a vested interest in this individual quant (the only one left lol) accepting this Demanding Task, but a) they’re not exactly playing it cool on that front, they Just said “i need You,” it’s unlikely that this is just some all manipulative tactic here by encouraging his metaphor after all lol and that’s hardly their style anyways even if they Can be strategic(tm) about things, and b) they’ve Just Previously adopted his own words lol with winston having said “as for not being a dick” and taylor saying “you backslid into being a dick” (combining His Phrasing with Theirs aka “if you promise not to backslide”....god!!!!!!)

and so then yeah to top it all off winston even ~pushes his luck~ lol by being a lil deliberately rude re: his ex-coworkers lmaoo, and you get taylor’s Reaction to being sort of tested here to be Closing Off Their Expression (speaking of....their tiny lil Eyebrow Twitch when winston infers that he’s making something to pitch to an investor.....god!!!!!! a) winnie n tay and b) emmy) and making it clear that their interest in him acting Easy To Work With was a practical matter......winston watching them go up the stairs, taylor looking back at him as they Ascend and he gets back to his desk.....jesus

the point being!!! they vibe with each other so well by Kompenso already and just *get* how the other operates and communicates and Neither Of Them are offput by the other, Neither Of Them are unwilling or uninterested in meeting each other where they’re at, and each exerting this effort to really work with each other........and how winston is Not intimidated by taylor as either someone who’s so ~weird~ and can be so Intense, or as someone who is his boss lol........which yknow we always also point out as Important re: tayston developing from this point, where taylor would be careful in how they approach winston about fwbship but would feel like it was even reasonable to consider it in the first place thanks to not having to feel like oh he definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable being honest if he wanted to say no / wasn’t sure

also Yeah It’s Billions but winston freely swearing with the F-word when they’re assessing the completed algorithm, which taylor has no reaction to lol.......the both of them being Hyped about this algorithm lol, like, Of Course they’d both be, but it’s fun :)

and then 4x03, with winston not acting terrified about there being potential Algorithm Problems, and taylor making sure to be like “don’t you dare blame latency” lol like which obv he May Have been planning to mention lol since he’s intending to give this technical answer rather than throwing out his Front Running / Interference Theory like mafee then does.....fun little moment too anyways.......taylor Allowing winston’s tangent about being cassandra and emails and “it’s pronounced owned,” like, they’re not raring to Interrupt / cut him off even if it’s Not obvious what he has to say is absolutely crucial and considered relevant by everyone else, and they’re not telling him he’s a stupid idiot and wasting their time or anything else before sending him away.......imagine. and just think about the beauty of winston very intently / earnestly saying his “i’m cassandra: Always Seeing The Future” right to taylor. 

and in 4x08 they build on his metaphor Again after having just Validated him despite everyone else really wanting to do the opposite lol......i “lol” but would everyone else lay off a little Lol......his self-reproach upon Registering that disapproval / oh-no-i’ve-messed-upness again.......then despite winston Standing Right Beside and then Sitting Right Behind taylor they don’t really interact l o l .....we have taylor being all “why is He so happy” and silently observing his Solo “i won” moment, rip, but also congrats.....and then i suppose that covers the Prior To 4x11 stuff lol

just......even re: the relative little we’ve Seen between them up to that point, winston might not have intended to talk to taylor right then, and he might or might not have intended to eventually talk to them in front of anyone else, but You Know He Knows that taylor listens to him, and that he doesn’t have to like, say things in what other people think is The Right And Effective Way to talk (even by billions’s fucking off the shits standards on that front lol), because taylor Does care about what he actually means and what his actual intentions are, not just “oh that very direct/honest thing you said Seemed rude whether you intended it or not”.......the “sad” after his yngwie malmsteen metaphor was the only time they’ve critiqued something like that lol and they then used that metaphor, So, and they’ve copied him calling himself a dick lol, and they built on his Sword metaphor, and they’ve just always been interested in Understanding him and communicating effectively with him, not in trying to get him to communicate differently or just making sure he knows He Should Feel Bad about how he Does communicate, though god knows the latter is something that everyone else seems to be somewhat #about. god knows some axe capper would have that “are you finished?” simply be the Purely Rhetorical intro to their barrage of Dunking-Upon insults, although it sure seems possible that that could’ve been sort of gently dismissive enough anyways to Encourage winston to not be finished even if maybe he would’ve stopped there otherwise.....but everyone else follows taylor’s lead in Not Actually Interrupting Him at any point, despite all the 9_9 and >:| as it were, and like, even though taylor then lets this whole thing end just with mafee going tf off on winston and bullying him into deferring and would-be deference, b/c winston might have this amount of moxie and he might be honest and he might not be scared of taylor (or anyone else here really) but he’s obviously not that assertive and definitely not that aggressive, he’s self-loathing, he’s easily put out, and all of this just bolsters how much it means that he communicates so well with taylor, b/c they’re Not interested in anything that would be counterproductive to actual effective communication but which might be “productive” if they had a goal of wanting to twist his arm about anything or pressure him into acting a certain way or just fueling their own ego or sense of superiority, axe cap style. they Value all his actual input and they have this respect for him where they don’t Want to bully him even if it’s not that difficult, like, yeah mafee was being mean to him for sure and trying to insult him into simply shutting tf up rather than like, actually responding to any of his points or doing anything but reinforcing them, but also winston has been Put Out by milder [negative responses] too, it’s of course more than just “i respect you too much to like, yell at you and try to diminish you”

and Frankly Winston Was Right and he may have been Indignant and he may not have been ~polite~ about it (though like, relative to how he is generally this Direct And Honest, there’s also not all that much evidence he’s deliberately trying to add some extra servings of Rudeness or anything) but once again like with the “as for not being a dick, i can’t absolute guarantee it” moment and the “fine, yes, big time” moment, and the “im sure it’ll go faster without the dead weight; Whoops ;)” moment, and the [talking about the algorithm problems] moment, and him freely jumping in with the “this plan might get us killed (not literally)” and “it’s b/c it sucks that they had to decapitate their dad, also not literally lol....although...” remarks, he’s just like, never afraid to tell taylor something that sure might not be the most pleasant for them to hear, and sure might not be something they Want to hear. and what’s Honest is that he’s Angry about this, and they won’t want to hear that and that they will even less want to hear his Honest Thoughts about why this is unfair, but he’s willing to say that to them, and even though we were like “haha boy winston if this isn’t fixed big time you might wanna quit :/” it’s also like, he must’ve trusted them to not wanna just fire him for lack of reverence to his ceo, and we can Juxtapose this with a) the scene that we’re set up to juxtapose it with, wherein a group of axe cappers carefully tell axe he’s being dumb as hell and might fuck all of them over, and axe tells them all to shut the fuck up b/c He Is Their Sun and he can do what he wants and get the fuck out of here, and we can also juxtapose it with b) winston being jumped on immediately in The Interview for ~lack of reverence~ to the potential employer, putting on this cocksure hotshot act (trying to..) and daring to express confidence in himself and be like “i should be interviewing you” / you should be selling to Me lol......jump to 4x11 and winston is caught off guard, he’s not putting on any kind of act, he’s not trying to appeal to anyone, sure mafee might turn it around on his [last we checked, the quant hates himself]ness, but this wasn’t about Winston Lashing Out b/c he’s angry at himself, he’s angry at Them for not valuing him, for what he perceives as them not even *really* giving them the option of the 60% Now approach, which sure seems to be justified seeing as apparently nobody but lauren goes for it and after winston invokes the Peer Pressure / pressure to seem Loyal / Committed by deferring, mafee immediately uses that [social pressure] to crush his dissent........where was i. right like. winston’s truly just Mad At Someone Else this time, he wouldn’t be here if his self-esteem was so low that he was immediately ready to just accept and absorb this treatment, and he Knows that taylor will actually listen to him which is their fuckin Mutual Respect thing and who tf else does that for him all the time, and he knows that taylor doesn’t value their own ego above everything else Unlike Some People, and he knows that he can be honest and get an honest reaction and that their honest reaction to his honesty is not “ugh you’re stupid / annoying / rude / etc,” b/c he’s Not, and that might be everyone else’s idea of him to some degree, but taylor Gets him better than that

and then you don’t quite have taylor being obviously Angry back, but they’re not exactly thrilled, and letting mafee go off on winston / effectively telling him they expect him to consider That the response and in turn respond back to that, can sure be interpreted as an expression of something a little short of pure goodwill and best intentions towards him here lol......again, i lol through the pain.......winston only has further reason to be angry, his Complaints weren’t resolved in the least and he came in all “i feel disrespected” and surely that’s only been doubled down on, b/c this isn’t Just “pay me goddamnit,” it’s really also just about the fundamental respect itself, which he figured that taylor cares about too, and so this would be something he could appeal to / expect them to earnestly.....he feels like none of them are being valued more than this feud with axe cap, he (maybe) feels like said feud is causing the quants’ work to be deprioritized in favor of more elaborate schemes based on “what will screw axe over specifically,” he feels like he’s not being valued as a Very Important Employee, he feels like this False Choice thanks to Social Pressure is insult to injury, like they’re not supposed to get a real chance to question this. boy i’m really just going off talking about any and all aspects of this huh, where’s the Anger Geography core here

well here it is: winston doesn’t ever talk to taylor in any more Filtered way due to them being his boss / him feeling a need to be more careful around them, if anything, they’re the one person he can be Least filtered around, b/c they care about What He Actually Means and aren’t all hung up on whether his communication style seems gratingly weird / wrong / offputting. winston isn’t bringing any particular leverage to this situation, yeah sure he pointed out He’s Valuable but he also did that in the interview with even less leverage and in the basement when he thought he was just working on some weird side project for axe cap in this remote quant dungeon - he’s counting on them to just Listen To Him and care about what he means, same as he always does and like they’ve done thus far. and he’s Temporarily Burned by this, which is tragic, but then 4x12 happens, and who knows if taylor and winston talked between these scenes at all cuz billions sure won’t say at all, but either way winston sure seems to pick up on the fact that taylor is responding to his Complaints here, the implication they were taking a too-axe-esque approach to them now answered by taylor deliberately differentiating themself from axe, and asserting that they Do value their employees and their contributions, and that taylor has this responsibility to them, and maybe Had gone astray there with the revenge jag but aren’t actually interested in that being the core of everything.........winston is Validated and we realize it and he seems to realize it lol, he definitely Was listened to, and he sure wasn’t like fired or anything, he Could Be Angry with them and that wasn’t going to lead to taylor wanting to sever even the Professional relationship or anything like that. sure seems to be no grudge held between them during the “q is for quantitative, babey” scene there lol and yeah it’s billions and shit moves fast / people will roll with A Lot of mistreatment apparently (see: winston also does not seem to harbor any grudge against mafee here lol but who knows) but the Fact Is, here they are, having found A Way Out Of [Anger], after having had this altercation which wouldn’t even have been possible if Winston hadn’t felt it was possible for them to interact like this, for him to be mad and be honest about that anger and the hows and whys of it and for that Not to be a dead end between them or something that could shatter the relationship entirely. and he was Validated!!!!

and guess who i also love to quote and paraphrase lol i also think of mariame kaba talking about interpersonal Conflict being possible Opportunities in a relationship, because working through said conflict can allow the relationship to grow / deepen / strengthen. which sure seems to Hold Hands with this idea: that you can Be Angry with someone because you already know that won’t break the relationship, and that even if you don’t already know that, going through that experience / process of Being Angry with someone and coming out the other side together will show that the relationship can handle that / will have involved gaining tools to be able to handle that going forward. and really like, we’ve seen winston Forgive taylor’s anger at him right off, and that may not be the sweeping heights of love but it came from Understanding (and....low self-es steam probably lol) but no really, he Shows that he understands why they reacted like that by behaving in this way that he figures is more in line with what they actually want, just talking and being direct with no boxes or [wags] or standard boring interview questions or posturing, showing he’s willing to work with them in the “please hire me” and “i’ll try to Behave” ways lol........and taylor is offering their own patience and sympathy and restraint and Understanding and willingness to bend.......things are happening on an emotional plane between them here.

and then after winston chooses to be on board with mase cap, and after he’s worked for them so long that it’s comp time baby, and after these few Sample Interactions we’ve seen in which taylor doesn’t cut winston down or show contempt for him and they continue to directly or indirectly validate him, winston can be Angry with them and taylor can (definitely Sorta) be Angry back, and winston surely even Stayed Angry after that scene in 4x11, and he didn’t quit, and was that [terrible self-esteem actually lol] or was it him believing that there could be a way out of this state of anger between him and taylor? both?? we get to decide!! b/c he’s sure not Validated and Vindicated until later lol.....what does he sit there on that couch alone in that room and Think in those moments...........and then once things Are better resolved, they have this whole [episode of conflict] in their history, and like is the whole Point of all of this, that’s hardly necessarily just some awful and unfortunate thing.......their relationship can survive something like that, and the conflict sure sparked this kind of Genuine Interaction between them which couldn’t have happened if winston just shied away from all this / kept it to himself because he didn’t think taylor would Listen or Care or Understand. 

and it’s Not Just About The Money, and even when he expresses that he’s upset about this perceived disrespect / not being valued as an employee, we Know that he’s not someone who’s got this need to feel superior to everybody else / like he’s always Winning, and we know he’s not after Maximum Clout, but he does want to Work With taylor and he evidently wants to feel valued By Them, who does happen to be his boss and does have this avenue to potentially treat any employees unfairly. and we know that winston *knows* in this objective way how good his work is, and both winston and taylor have acknowledged that yeah, His Work / professional quantly ablities have value, so winston Knows he should expect for that to be valued in the form of “your quantributions are important and you’re getting paid to reflect that”........and that he feels like he’s for once not being Allowed Honesty re: everyone supposedly being pressured into deferring is like..........what do he and taylor have if not earnest, open communication b/c they both value and respect what the other Really Has To Say!!!!!! that’s winnie n tay and it’s also tayston.

which, speaking of which, Sidenote: when it comes to tayston hcs we generally have this as a “they’re not currently doing Their Thing at this point anyways, and maybe the fact that that’s been ended (and they Haven’t been talking through this particular conflict yet) is adding to the tension / anger / feeling of not being valued hahaha rip” deal lol, but also if they Were still currently in their fwb/[???]ship like obviously this would spill over and probably require an at-least-temporary halt to give everyone some space seeing as it’d be a little impossible to truly completely Set That Aside in the recent aftermath l o l ......but despite the lingering tension / awkwardness that would be present whenever they Do next meetup [imagine: an I Was On The Phone With You, Sweetheart phonecall prior to 4x12′s scene?? wrow] the layers to that ensuing sex lol......reunion sex? makeup sex? not-hate-sex-but-maybe-still-needing-to-vent-a-lil-Emotional-frustration-maybe sex? maybe all of the above and more

ANYWAYS even i don’t know why this is so long, and also it’s 7am. i definitely think that winston trusted taylor and the Relationship between them to be able to handle Anger (his, for once, lol) and for that Anger to even potentially be something Constructive. and he was right. and in 4x12 he’s there with them at the very end, wearing the tmc logo, standing behind them in the hellhole which is axe cap hq, knowing that taylor is the one person (here, certainly) who definitely Gets and who’s Got him, who’s asserted this loyalty and commitment to him after he’s certainly done that re: them, and once again winston definitely has this Choice to be here with them just like he must’ve had that choice to join up with their fund in the first place, he’s never been trapped with them or forced into alliance with them, and we just Know that he’s not choosing to be here just for Linkedin reasons / what’s best for career advancement and/or for raking it in as best as he can manage and/or for gaining clout and status or whatever, and we sure never see him reaping some kind of deluxe treatment/benefits just for being closely associated with taylor / having their approval. everything we see points to winston caring most about what happens between him and taylor and that he gets to work with them and that he’s here because of that mutual respect and value for each other. 

and really, the show also repeatedly tells us that winston Does basically have these world-class abilities and *is* that valuable, and we know that winston Knows how good he is, and he must’ve legitimately had all those offers and known that he’s really good enough that these places Should compete for him. he must’ve known that he has this Potential here and all of these options laid out in front of him, and he takes taylor’s call and shows up in a basement for them and singlehandedly writes an algorithm good enough to found their fund upon and he follows them there when now he’s got this Proof of just how incredible his work is and could’ve leveraged that anywhere else. but his relationship with taylor has always had this personal aspect to it and the fact is that, even with his choice of Paths laid out in front of him, he chose and keeps choosing the geography of winnie n tay. Love. thank you and goodnight

[omg-foreverfilledwithweird-posts]

Kitty (˃ᆺ˂)

Pairing: T’Challa X Reader

Summary: You, a sharp, quick-witted, and bold Avenger with a fire that rivals your pyro wielding abilities were sent by your fellow Avengers to Wakanda to man the division there alongside the king himself, T’Challa. To oversee, fight battles if need be, and help get Bucky back on his feet. So when the Avengers are invited for a few days to Wakanda, to take a vacation, and there’s a party thrown in honor of them; M’Baku comes to stir trouble by pissing off the king in the only way he can make the man lose his cool: hitting on you. 

A/N: okay so this is a mess and a half and I’m really bored and have been writing dozens of stories at once but decided I wanted some Black Panther, partly because I love me some T’Challa and to celebrate Black History Month, it’s important and this soft fic with hints of smut and heat can hopefully make some of you guys smile XD some Xhosa is used because that was the language they spoke in the movie and it’s just so beautiful btw I ADORE M’BAKU I just needed conflict XD I hope you enjoy I loved writing it your comments and feedback have been MAKING MY DAYS!!! it’s so longggggg let me know if you want more (might write an Erik one next ;))

Warnings: so much fluff, cheesiness, feels, jealous! T’Challa, sexual themes, long beginning before smut, SMUT SMUT SMUT in a semi-public place, possessive sex, oral (female receiving), FILTH, SIN, get ready

You were nervous, to say the least. This is the first event you’ve been to an event here, the first event ever really, you have no idea how to compose yourself in front of so many people. That many prying and wandering eyes, but T’Challa insistingly assures that you will be fine. You know he only says that because it’s in his blood. This royal thing comes to him as easily as breathing, he exhales, exudes, royalty and class. You’re an Avenger from NYC, nothing special, you think.

And here you are, eyes wide as saucers while the village women slip you into traditional Wakandan garments, a deeply intricate, detailed, dashiki-like pattern adorning the multicolored, silky fabric and draping down your body, hugging your womanly curves with a revealing a slit down the leg that started at the top of your thigh. They applied little to no makeup, a light, neutral color to your eyelids that highlighted the luminescent y/e/c and a bold, red lip, something that you aren’t quite as used to. The young girls of the village pinned the curls of your hair into a delicate braid, placing small flowers in the dips and folds, giggling to each other when you make silly faces at them every so often. You hold your palm face up, a fire appearing and morphing into a woman, dancing along the grooves of your hand. The girls look on, awestruck, jaws dropped and you grin, laughing along with them.

“They’ve dressed you well, y/n, you look more and more like a future queen every day,” The Queen Mother tells you kindly, her voice caring but forceful, strict but tender. The fire snuffs from your hand and you look up at her. Her expression is soft when she enters the room, commanding the attention of everyone around you without trying. “May I have a moment alone with her, ladies? She and I need to discuss a few things before tonight’s festivities...” she looks at you, her head tilted inquisitively. You gulp.

They nod and scurry from the room, the little girls waving after you as they run out, returning to their afternoon games before the Wakandan sunset sets in soon. You stand up, looking her in the eye to show respect. She’s been nothing but inviting towards you since you’ve arrived, it still surprises you how long you’ve stayed here, just a few months now. Then there are times she makes you wonder, with her occasional teasing and insinuating of getting you and T’Challa together. Okoye and Shuri not any better. Not that you minded, at all, you would be lying if you said you didn’t think about him or being with him. You’ve had a crush the moment you set eyes on him, on his kingdom. But you believe it won’t happen, can’t, with all these beautiful, Wakandan women fawning over him. How were you different, you thought.

“So...” she smiles, ulterior motives flashing in the curl of her warm, peach-tinted lips, you can tell she was a former queen just from the regal way she carries herself in the elegant gown she wears, gesturing for you to take a seat across from her. “You look like you have something on your mind. Tell me, dear.”

Funny you asked because I am riddled with anxiety over this celebration, seeing my friends again after so long, being dressed up with crowds of people analyzing me while I enter on the King’s arm, and oh, the fact that I might be in love with your son who I’ve only known for three or so months now. “Oh... it’s nothing.”

“Are you sure?” her smile widens considerably. “Nothing at all... not even something having to do with my son, the boy has taken a quite a liking to you, mnandi.” (sweetheart)

Your face burns brightly, smiling before you can help yourself, at the mention of him you’re a puddle at anyone’s feet, and she has her answer. “I-I don’t think that’s true,” you stammer out. “He and I... we’re only friends.”

“That’s what you think. But I’m his mother. I know him best,” she stands up, holding out her hand. You take it and she helps you up, grasping yours affectionately when you stand level with her. “He’s smitten, believe me,” she gives you a look that you don’t dare argue with. “Now... why don’t we get back, I’ve kept you long enough and T’Challa needs a date.”

“I thought you were going to be accompanying him, your Majesty,” you look at her, and she loops her arm through yours. 

She smirks, looking at you from the corner of her eye, the same look you see Shuri get when she has an evil idea in mind. “I’ll live... The boy doesn’t need his mother. Not at a party, anyway. Besides, y/n... I have my people to keep me company.”

You smile when she begins walking down the hall of the palace, from the room you were just getting ready in. The hall leads to Shuri’s impressive lab where all her scientific and inventive endeavors take place. The guards by the door greet the two of you as you walk in, Ramonda giving them a curt, dignified nod that they respectfully return. You find Shuri and T’Challa arguing, not surprising, but it ceases in their stern mother’s presence. She arches a skilled eyebrow, from years of practice and motherhood.

“Children,” she scolds playfully, amused. “Compose yourselves in the face of a queen,” she says, and you think she’s referring to herself, but she’s looking at you with a soft smile. Oh.

T’Challa half smiles when you descend the steps to walk towards him, elated that you decided to slip on comfortable, gladiator sandals instead of dangerous heels. He wears the flattering, navy blue suit with silver detailing sewn in the lavish coat you love so much, complementing his deep, chocolate skin, and fitting to his broad, muscular frame. You can’t take your eyes off of him. Just as he can’t off you.

He whispers by your ear when you move to stand at his side, low enough to evade his family’s eavesdropping, his velvet voice is honey dripping, low and smooth like melted sweets, caramel or chocolate, hitting you in the most intimate of places, “You look enchanting.” 

His eyes roam the expanses of the dips and curves on your body before him and he’s enraptured, flustered when you flash that demure smile as you catch him looking long enough for it to be considered staring. But you don’t mind. You revel in it.

“Thank you, my king,” you grow shy yourself, meeting his kind, brown eyes with flecks of gold and caramel, the tiniest tinges of green on the rim of the iris. He adores when you call him that.

“And you too, I mean you look good... as always... because well, you’re very handsome. Wait-” I shouldn’t have said that. You pause and your heartbeat quickens at the perplexed furrow of his brow, he smiles widely. “Y-you know what I mean.”

He nods, lips quirked in the corners, “I do... yes. But you seem nervous.”

“To say the least, yes, it’s just... nerve-wracking, that many people. And I’m one of the focuses.”

He looks at you and nods, listening intently before offering you his hand. He slips yours into his and squeezes it, calming your nerves. “If ever you find yourself becoming nervous, y/n, look to me and I will remind you that everything is alright,” he brushes his lips over your knuckles and presses a light kiss there. Shuri’s eyebrows hit her hairline. 

A small smile graces your ethereal features. 

“And I’ll be the one that will be heavily focused on, sadly,” he runs the pad of his thumb over your hand and it oddly comforts you, his warm touch. “That might not be the case tonight, however, with you there. They’ll be in awe of you.” 

You laugh quietly, looking at your shuffling feet then back up at him, not realizing how close the two of you have gotten to one another until the Queen Mother and Shuri discretely clear their throats, knowing smiles on their faces. And Okoye, who snuck into the room without you both noticing somehow. She’s the worst of all when it comes to the teasing.

“Did he freeze?” she asks coyly. T’Challa glares at her, still holding your hand.

“Most definitely,” Shuri grins with a glimmer of something in her brown eyes. You grew scared as to what it was. “He didn’t move for a solid ten seconds.”

You and T’Challa share a roll of both your eyes, a rush of heat hitting you in waves. Then he shoots daggers at his conniving sister, for the teasing.

“Americans...” Okoye smiles to you. “So clueless.”

“As if you are any better,” you tease. “Mrs. I-love-Agent-Ross.” Shuri erupts with laughter, the King looking on at you with an impressed curl of his lips.

The Queen Mother speaks up, “Not that this discussion isn’t entertaining...” she winks at you. “We should get to the celebration before the people start to worry. Our guests of honor seem to have arrived...” she nods to the window, a ship landing outside by the grand entrance. You smile excitedly as all of you make your way to greet them.

Your friends and fellow teammates appear when the door to the elaborate ship opens, giving them a ramp to descend to you. They were informed to dress formal, and none of them disappointed. Captain is the first one you see and he flashes a brilliant grin that you return when you run up to embrace him. He wraps his strong arms around your waist and lifts you from the ground, having had missed his favorite team member, something he’d never openly admit to the others. He spins you around before setting you back down on solid ground.

“You look amazing,” he looks at you, Steve is like a big brother to you, the team is your family. You’ve missed them more than you’ve been letting on and T’Challa sees that, looking on with an adoring smile.

“I just hope you’re not making any trouble for the King of Wakanda, wreaking havoc on his kingdom or anything,” Natasha teases with a small, calculated smirk before engulfing you in one of her rare, genuine hugs. It’s a sight to see, her showing affection when all her life she was taught to hide it, but you have the privilege of being her best friend. She whispers by your ear, “You look beautiful, by the way.”

“She might have set a few, accidental fires in the lab, but other than that, completely fine,” Shuri pats your shoulder and you roll your eyes. 

You smile, grasping her hand in yours, “Thank you, Nat. You look...” you look over her curve-hugging, red silk dress, and she does a small spin. “You look stunning, I missed you.”

She hugs you again, “I missed you, too, hothead.”

You despise that nickname coined by Tony Stark, scrunching up your nose, indignant, “I hate that name.”

“Too bad,” someone says behind you and you yelp when you’re pulled into a hug, someone’s blazer-clad arms looping around your waist.

“Dammit, Tony,” you laugh when he squeezes your sides, spinning you back around to give him a proper hug.

He embraces you tightly, like he’s afraid you’ll disappear if he gives you room to breathe. He, on the other hand, was like a father to you, “Missed you, kiddo.”

“I’m not that much younger than you, Stark.”

“I’m wise. Which makes me older than everybody,” he grips your shoulder affectionately. “You look great. They’re treating you well here, I hope?” he looks up at T’Challa, advancing to stop by your side. He lowers his voice, “You say the word and I will-”

“Tony, Tony,” you laugh. “Everything is perfect here. I promise,” you look at T’Challa when you say this and your friends understand why. Tony sizes him up, spooking the King.

Nat and Steve share a look of raised eyebrows and small smiles, Shuri joins in.

“Where are the rest?” you ask, looking towards the ship.

“They sadly couldn’t make it, but they will arrive at another time,” Nat explains.

“Okay, enough talking, this dress is suffocating,” Shuri finally complains, you knew it was coming, taking your unsuspecting hand and dragging you towards the entrance to the celebration. “Let’s hurry this up and get to the party already, so I can go back to my lab and out of this damned thing.”

“I like this girl,” Tony says to the others, his dark shades sliding down the bridge of his nose. 

Ramonda eyes slit, “Language, Shuri.”

“Sorry, mother!” she yells back as everyone follows her inside to where the festivities have just begun. 

You arrive at the door where Shuri dropped you off to wait for her brother. He stands by your side and offers you his arm, and you take it, hooking yours through his.

All eyes are on you when the guards open the double door for the both of you, so you move closer to him, pressing into his side and your grip tightening on his arm.

“Darling...” he whispers, an amused lilt in his deep voice. “Are you alright? You’ve gotten rather close.”

“Sorry, it’s just...” you look around the gazes of people. “All this attention.”

“Breathe, princess,” he chuckles, the masculine sound rumbling from deep within his chest. “I’ll go get us some refreshments, will you be okay until I get back?”

You furrow your brow, “No, and if you leave, my death will be on your hands.”

He breathes a soft laugh, “You’ll live, entle.” (beautiful) He slips from your grasp as he walks over to the table with all the food and drinks, eyes drawn to him and mostly women, you see.

A low, pleasant voice sounds behind you, “Mm, princess...” You turn around to see M’Baku, a friend and ally of T’Challa’s. You quickly size him up, his all ebony suit is flattering, to say the least, but his dark eyes hold something that makes your hair stand on end, something malicious.

“Hello, M’Baku,” you say, holding suspicion in your tone when you smile politely. But he takes it as an invitation to step closer.

“The King was right to allow your stay here, looking at you now...” his eyes wash over your figure but you don’t shy away, catching his gaze with an expert pull of your brow. “You’re breathtaking.”

You look over at T’Challa, busy discussing politics among other royals, looking like he was more forced into the conversation than willingly. 

The orchestra picks up with the first slow song of the night, and M’Baku holds out his hand, offering you a dance. You open your mouth to decline his invitation, but he shakes his head, moving in closer.

“It wouldn’t be wise to say no to one of the King’s closest allies, now would it, princess? How would that make you look?” he whispers by your ear.

You meet his eyes, “Are you threatening me?”

“No, princess... only giving you advice,” he warns and you sigh, begrudgingly taking his hand, letting him pull you into a dance to keep from causing a stir in the crowd. There was no need to make a scene, not here, anyway. And it’s just one dance, what’s the worst that could happen?

His hand is dangerously low on the small of your back, too close to your ass, and his other hand holds up yours, to spin you into the waltz. He twirls you outward and pulls you back in, hand looped tightly around your waist and holding you against him. T’Challa’s eyes finally make their way over to the two of you, landing on M’Baku with a hard stare. There’s an ache and pull in his chest he’s never quite experienced, blinking hard when his eyes flash red, jealousy rearing its ugly head on his shoulder. 

You look over at him and analyze his furrowed brow, hardened gaze, set eyes, and clenched jaw. But he couldn’t be... no, was it what you think it is? 

M’Baku’s hand dares to drop lower, gripping your hips, to the curve of your ass, and you jump, jerking his hands away. Your hand collides harshly with his face, an audible and loud SMACK! circling the room, heads turning towards you.

“Don’t you dare touch me again, asshole,” you spit, chest heaving. “You’re lucky I don’t burn you where you stand. Keep your damn hands to yourself.”

Then the foolish man risks a glance in the angry King’s direction. T’Challa strides over with purpose, adjusting the cuffs of his sleeves with his eyes set on you.

You’ve jumped away from M’Baku’s lustful grasp and watched helplessly as T’Challa walks up to him, the two men sizing each other up.

“M’Baku...” T’Challa says in a steady tone, eerily calm. “I did not know you would be here tonight, my friend.” 

“Plans change,” he replies, looking at you but you shy away from his gaze fixated on your body.

“You seem to be making y/n uncomfortable, I must ask you politely to leave her alone... and be on your way,” he locks eyes with the man. “Or I will take other extreme measures to force you out.” Your eyes widen.

“Is that a threat, your Highness?” he takes a step towards him.

“No,” he does the same, and although M’Baku is considerably taller and larger, his presence looms over his ally. “It is a promise.”

“Watch your tongue, boy. I was only admiring the beautiful lady, she’s fine. Get off her back or I will snap yours in half.”

“Do you not remember the last time you challenged me to a fight?” he takes a menacing step towards him, toe to toe with the man. “If you wish to begin another, this time... I will show you no mercy.”

You finally step between them, placing a comforting hand flat against his muscular chest, feeling his rapid, worrisome heartbeat. You emit warmth from your palm, calming him and you watch as his fast breaths slow and even out, now steady with your own. He looks to you, something in his eyes you cannot read.

“T’Challa...” you coo in a soft, quiet voice. “Let’s go and find a place where you can get a breath of air. He’s not worth it, my King.” 

He nods and follows you out of the room, hands balled into iron fists at his sides. The two of you leave without another word, making your way to the lab, a place that usually hustles and bustles with scientists and Shuri, exploding with new ideas. But it’s quiet now, empty, and it’s just the two of you.

“T’Challa?” you say, the name echoing off the walls of the vacant room but he doesn’t answer, looking out the window to the underground tunnel beneath his nation, focusing on the trains moving forward instead of his whirring mind. That’s come to a conclusion he thought he has already buried.

“My King, please speak to me,” you say, almost to the point of begging. “What did I do to deserve the silent treatment?”

He doesn’t answer, still looking out the window with his chest rising and falling harshly. He’s a king, he shouldn’t feel this way, so dependent upon you. Your smile, your laugh, your wit and intelligence, your presence, everything about you makes him weak when he is called upon to be strong for his country. But he craves it, you, and to see another man touching you in such a way, it angered him. More than he’s ever felt. He’s never felt love like this before.

You’ve begun to burn with rage yourself, hands glowing with flames, “T’Challa, dammit, his hands were on me, what did you want me to do? Are you mad because I caused a scene? Because I slapped him? Because I yelled? You can’t be-”

It happens in an instant, his hands taking your wrists in his large hands, and pinning you against the lab’s wall, pressing you against the glass. You inhale sharply, a gasp escaping your ruby lips and T’Challa growls lowly.

“Do you have any idea... what I wanted to do to him-” he purrs, eyes boring into yours. “For touching you in such a way? What I want to do to you?” 

Your chest heaves helplessly and you can’t help the slick appearing in the intimate center between your thighs. Your heart pounds and you hate how much you’re liking this, his power over you. You want to answer, to say something, but the words die on your tongue and you’re unable to speak. His hands slide down your arms and move to grip your hips and waist, but unlike M’Baku’s hold on you, it’s gentle yet demanding and wanton like his eyes on you. Your thighs involuntarily clench together, desperate to get some kind of friction, pressure to your core.

He forces your legs apart with his knee and your eyes threaten to fall shut, but you keep them open, watching him look at you, now with a slight quirk of his mouth, “Are you enjoying this, my queen?”

“Shit,” you whisper. “Yes... yes I am,” you breathe out with a small, fluttering laugh, your heart leaping out of your chest and into his able grasp. You lock eyes.

The King takes both of his hands and holds your face in his gentle grasp, lips brushing ever so softly when he tilts his head forward, lips crashing like waves against your own. You’re taken back until your eyes flutter close at the tantalizing sensation of his plump lips taking you apart piece by piece. And you don’t want to be put back together. He tastes of sparkling wine and a sweetness you can only classify as him. The sweet, fleeting kiss is gentle, tentative, and asking for permission you grant when you press yourself against him, chests flushed together, hand curling up the expanse of his taut back and threading into his raven black hair. He catches your red, bottom lip between his teeth and pulls, triggering a gasp to escape your crimson painted lips and allowing his tongue entrance to your own. His hands go below your thighs and he lifts you up, your legs moving to wrap around his lean waist to steady your trembling frame. This must be a dream, you think, a crazy realistic, beautiful nightmare you never want to wake up from.

“Y/n...” he husks by your ear. “What are you doing to me?”

You feel him growing hard against you so you rotate your hips, earning a groan from the man that has your lips curling into the kiss. His wandering hands crawl up your inner thigh, nails digging into the tender flesh, before his fingers find that familiar slick between your legs. You respond with a quiet moan, head tilting back and hitting the cool glass, contrasting against the heat you two have created, a thin, sheen of sweat on your y/s/c skin. He takes the opportunity to place sloppy, open mouth kisses down your neck, across your collarbone, down your chest, tongue tracing the dips and grooves, before ripping down your dress, leaving your heaving chest in only a lace bra before him.

“T’Challa...” you smile softly, taking his face in your hands. “I really liked that dress,” you mock pout and he smirks, brown eyes glazed over with lust.

He kisses just below your ear, the corner of your jawline, “I’ll make you another. Whatever you want, my love, I will give it to you. Just say the word...”

“I want you,” you whisper, placing a chaste kiss to his lips, murmuring softly. “Right now... I want you, my king.”

He kisses the inside of your palm, “Your wish is my command, my queen,” his hands travel to your ass, carrying you over to one of the many bedrooms in the palace, kicking the door closed behind him that locks automatically.

He lays you down on the mattress, sheer, lace fabric draping from the canopy bed. The moonlight pours in from the window to the left of you and casts a milky glow on your features, shadows marking the curves he runs his hands down so wantonly. You look divine, so lustful and submissive pinned underneath him, he so desperately wants to make you his.

“You’re so beautiful...” he says quietly, voice rasped with want and desire, moving to tear open your bra with one hand, and so effortlessly at that. 

“Mine,” he whispers into your skin, making lovely constellations in your skin when he kisses across your breasts.

He kneads the tender mounds, moving to mark the soft skin there with his tongue and teeth, sucking harshly on the erect peaks. He leaves love bites in his wake that everyone will surely see tomorrow, but your mind is elsewhere, you want to be his. You arch your back at the oh so pleasant feeling, and grip the sheets when he moves down your body to bunch up the remainder of your dress to reveal your dripping core.

He nips at your inner thigh, kissing and licking, with an animalistic gleam in his dark, stormy eyes, “Mine.” 

He rips off your lace panties with his teeth and kisses your clit, “All mine,” his eyes flick up to meet yours, a smirk on his plump lips before sucking the bundle of nerves into his mouth, making you cry out.

He slips one, two, fingers into your wet heat, curling deliciously against you. He presses your stomach against the bed with his other hand to keep you from writhing, going to work on you with his expert tongue, licking anywhere and everywhere he has access to. And you’re close to coming undone, that familiar coil in the pit of your stomach signaling your finish, that delectable release from reality you’ve been waiting for all night.

“My King...” you breathe out. “I’m... I’m so close...”

“Look at me,” he commands, adding a third finger that makes it close to painful, tears springing to your eyes. The feeling otherworldly. “Look at me while I make you come undone. Who’s making you feel this way?”

“You...” you stammer out, too close. “T’Challa, you!”

It becomes too much to bear and you don’t hold back the screams that leave your lips, biting down to keep the remaining at bay, but failing as the immense pleasure ripples through your body. It’s the greatest thing you’ve ever felt, seeing stars in your vision when you black out from his touch, falling limp on the bed beneath him when he crawls up your body to kiss you again, situating himself between your legs. You taste yourself on his tongue and moan into his mouth

You smile wickedly when he pulls away, hair mussed, dress ripped, and makeup smudged, a glow to your skin that he can’t get enough of, “Mm... now I believe it’s your turn, your Highness.”

It was going to be a long night.

[billiejean485]

Karmiro Kiss

https://www.deviantart.com/billiejean485/art/Karmiro-Kiss-800793669

(Text from DA:)

First of all, I'd like to state something: I don't usually upload art such as this often or at all, and I rarely even show it to anyone. Reason? Been bullied a hell of a lot for it in younger years, so I learned to keep things like these to myself. However, I am pretty sure the Karmiro fans would appreciate it, and I am having a really hard time finding artwork devoted to this ship myself (kudos to Iamaddictedtocoffee and KenKic4Ever - you guys are IMO the best I could find), and I honestly wanted to contribute.

Second thing I wanted to mention is that - although the show itself made me a huge Karmiro fan, this particular piece/sketch came as an inspiration from reading Arctimon's fics. My God - for the past 6 years I've been having a really hard time finding quality fanfics (I got older, and my standards became very high), and their in particular are among those rare that make me cling to it like an idiot, rereading it until I know it by heart (still in the process of achieving that btw XD). I haven't left a review yet, but, I can say here that that level of quality English, original ideas and great imagination is not something that you just stumble upon in the fan fiction world easily. I'm blown away. Still am. Still haven't read everything, so I won't drop that mentioned review yet. But, Arctimon, if you're reading this - you have my huge support, and I'm a really big fan.

Now on to the rant on the art aspect of this sketch.

I don't have much experience in drawing a kiss, and still learning to do that. What killed me even more here is just the position (that I probably didn't even figure out well) of the two - if you have that steamy kiss where both sides try to pull each other into it, and a couple with height differences between a girl and a boy such as Hiro and Karmi, everything gets complicated. The arm position is probably off (because yours truly was lazy enough not to reference anything). I hope at least I got their faces right - I haven't drawn either of the two enough for practice. Oh, and Karmi's hair was ridiculously difficult for me; it should be simple, but nope.

Ah, yes, and the Baymax sketch in the bg - the body probably should have been a bit bigger, but 'anatomy' wise I think it's okay. I just placed him in the wrong spot. And I have a feeling that it made perspective make no sense (he's speechless, btw XD).

Okay, and two last things.

I love the fact that Hiro is the shorter one in this relationship and is probably standing on his toes somewhat here, while Karmi has to bend down and/or pull him up. It's so relatable and heart-warming. :D I remember how all that went in those years of life (14~16). Wish we'll manage to see him grow, but who knows. Also, depends what Disney plans for the sequel of the movie, if they're even planning it (it got them an Oscar, so chances are high).

But one thing that saddens me in that is that - for most characters that appear in TV shows that are based on the movie there is like a rule that they don't appear in the movie's sequel. Which brings me to the second thing.

Even though I ship them with all my heart, I see little possibilities for these two to become something more than friends (there is more chance for that happening with Hiro and Megan, although the whole Karmutie stuff has led us on to believe otherwise up until she showed up). It seems as though Hiro and Karmi's relationship was made only to reach some "good friends" climax and that that's the whole point of it. Even Karmi's crush on hero-Hiro looks more like something that came as a product of her loneliness rather than actual need for a romantic interest in her life (I think she'd be a lot more invested in her relationship with 'Captain Cutie' if this wasn't the case). And when you take into account that this is a show aimed at kids... it all makes sense. Kids don't like romantic stuff, nor do they need it. But what do they need? Learning more about friendship, especially with that girl or boy they tend to fight a lot and don't get along well. It's a perfect reason to make you think that that there will never be anything more in this relationship. But it gets on our older fans' nerves because - naturally, the characters are not kids, they're teens. Things function differently here. I mean, okay - Karmi and Hiro may not be each other's type (debatable) in the end, but you can't tell me they don't care for each other at it's base, and that they will learn to get their rivalry out of the way to make a clear path for that. And when that happens, everything's possible.

But coming back to the first thing I brought up - the characters from the TV show rarely, if ever, make it to the sequel of the movie. Which means, whatever happens with these two, they will probably split up. It's saddening, and I wish things would change there. Hey, seeing Karmi in the sequel would make who knows how many of us happy. And not just her - bunch of other characters too. Or at least give them an honorable mention.

It's because TV shows get made for kids that nothing from it gets transferred to the sequel of the movie, which gets made for audiences of all ages. If there's something I wish would change, it's that - having TV shows dumbed down for kids. And with that I mean - seeing characters a lot older act like they're children. What the heck is that teaching the little kids? That reality will never be like they saw it on TV?

Kudos, and a really big KUDOS to the shows that are tackling this particular thing. It's good and it's healthy. If you wanna make something for kids, make it really appropriate for kids. Don't tug on the nerves of us older people, because - whatever the world says, there will always be those older ones that watch cartoons, ages ranging from older teens to who knows how old. We don't like watching those dumbed down things, no matter how profitable it is for you, content-makers, to target it only for kids, who will get you the most money. Yeah, it's harder to make such stuff, we know, but it's not impossible. At least show a little effort.

But, concerning that, I can't complain on BH6's TV show anymore. The second season was fantastic so far, and those 'dumbed-down' elements were reduced to the bare minimum. I just hope it stays that way.

... Well, this was a whole lot that came out of me just because of posting one silly fangirl drawing. XD Hope some of you actually managed to read this.... Too bad all of this is going to get dumped in the Scraps' section (please make a Sketch section, DA!), like most of my uploads do.

I live and breathe sketches. lol

Oh well - thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. XD I'm really done this time.

[canonicallysoulmates]

If We Have Each Other

Since last year I wrote a Sam/Dean + Jack fic for Father’s Day and I still love the relationship Jack had with the boys and I'm still on the jack is Sam and Dean's son train I wanted to write something again this year. This is not the fluff fest I had in mind, it turned less Father’s day fic more s14 finale AU but hopefully, if you give it a read you’ll still like it. 

This takes place after the season 14 finale in an AU where Jack didn't die and the boys retired to a small no-name town.

The title comes from Alec Benjamin's song of the same name btw

Read on Ao3

Linda has seen a lot of people come through her dinner over the years, most of them just passing by on their way to some other, bigger, destination but some stick around and settle in her small town eventually becoming regulars like the mysterious family that suddenly rolled into town one night and didn't leave, the Winchesters. They've been living in town for almost 4 months now but not much is known about them, in fact, Linda's pretty sure she knows the most out of the whole town and that's saying a lot; they tend to keep to themselves making them an odd bunch for this usually social little town. You won't find them in the pews on Sunday with the rest of the God-fearing people or in any of the town meetings or activities, but they don't cause any trouble and that's good enough to keep everybody happy.

She met them the same night they arrived in town it was well after her usual closing time and the only thing that had prevented her from locking up had been the few remaining customers that were scattered around finishing their meals when the three of them limped in looking like they had just fought a war. Even though the kitchen was closed for the day and she'd be locking up soon the poor boys had looked so exhausted she hadn't had the heart to turn them away,  offering them, instead, some leftover pie and a fresh cup of coffee.

After that night the Winchester's quickly became regulars at her dinner and little by little, as the days and weeks passed, she went learning more about them, their names , that they're originally from Kansas, that they're the ones who bought the dilapidated farmhouse on the edge of town that has long been rumored to be haunted. And the more she gets to know them the more it seems they steal a little piece of her heart, before long she's developed a noticeable soft spot for the little family, especially for the youngest one, Jack. A quiet kid who never goes anywhere without one of his father's being nearby; her papa used to say she always had a heart for the broken ones and to Linda, the Winchester's were visibly broken.

It's clear to her that they care for one another of that she has no doubts, but while to others they may seem like a normal family she has been on this earth long enough to recognize the invisible weight they carry on their shoulders that their smiles don't reach their eyes and their laughter is muted, she's noticed how sometimes their eyes will glaze over and they'll stare into nothingness until something jolts them back to the present and how certain loud sounds make Dean jump or make Sam grip his left hand so tight that he cuts off his own circulation.  Has noticed the times Sam starts to reach for Dean before pulling back, sees the distance that's between them even when they're all together in one booth. Notices how both Sam and Dean sit further away from Jack and how they never refer to him as their son.

They remind her of a family that used to live in town many years ago, the Addington's, closer a family you wouldn't find than them until tragedy struck and they lost one of their children in a horrible accident, after that they drifted apart until they all left the town and went their own way; secretly, Linda wonders if that's what happened to the Winchester's, if they were struck by tragedy and were trying to fix what had been broken.

It's an early Saturday morning at the diner when the youngest Winchester quietly shuffles in by himself; the visit is a surprising one, while the Winchester's frequently go to her dinner, it's rare to see them alone and Jack is never seen without one or both of his fathers nearby. He's visibly nervous as he sits down at the counter, playing with the sleeves of his too big sweater, but as tempted as she is to ask him why he's there by himself she's learned with the Winchesters it's better not to pry if there's something they wish to share they will in their own time. So instead of questioning him, she offers to make him some pancakes free of charge if he helps her set up the tables.

He works quietly but efficiently; the silence only broke by the coffee maker, the sizzle of the griddle pan and the scrapping of chairs, she had forgotten how nice it was to have some company at the dinner early in the morning  and she contemplates asking Jack if he'd like to earn some money by helping her out around the dinner every once in a while. Halfway through his work he starts talking and by the time he's done setting up the tables and wiping down the booths the air is filled with the comforting scent of warm pancakes and freshly brewed coffee, and he's told her about his quest of trying every single candy in the candy store and how Sam and him had an impromptu picnic in their backyard which moved the conversation to how the renovation is going and how they're almost halfway done with fixing up the house, it's the most she's ever heard him speak and she starts thinking the kid just wanted somebody else to talk to other than his parents but there's a natural lull in the conversation and when Jack speaks again it's to shyly ask if she could please bake him a blueberry pie so he could gift it to Dean on Father's day.

Everybody in town knows Linda makes the best pies, even better than the local bakeries so she's used to costumers asking if she'd sell them the whole thing instead of just a slice yet Jack's request still catches her by surprise. He quietly explains to her that he already has something for Sam but he couldn't find anything for Dean, that he really wanted to gift him something he would like but that could pass off as something other than a Father's day present in case Dean didn't want a gift from him, he was about to give up when he remembered how much Dean loved her blueberry pie so he saved up the money he had earned by helping Sam with odds and ends to buy it himself, and snuck out of the house early that morning to go to her dinner .

Maybe it's the way his oversized sweater and mussed up hair  makes him look more like a lost child than the young adult he's supposed to be or the big pleading eyes he gave her when she starts telling him that their local baker Paul sells the whole pie and that she's sure Dean would love one of those just as much,  maybe it's the fact that when she's watching him walk away her eyesight locks on the booth in the corner and her mind flashes back to how the last time he and Dean had been there by themselves they barely spoke and how much it reminded her of her family, or the fleeting thought that maybe if somebody had helped her family they wouldn't have ended up drifting apart like dandelions in the wind, that makes her stop Jack before he can walk out the door.

Due to a long-standing agreement between her and Paul, she can't sell Jack a whole pie but she can teach him and help him bake a blueberry pie for Dean and in exchange, Jack will keep her company around the dinner in the mornings until Father's Day arrives.  Jack is a surprisingly fast learner, quickly learning all the rules of pie making and when Father's Day rolls around a week later, he leaves the dinner with two perfectly baked pies to surprise his dad's with, a blueberry one for Dean and a cherry one for Sam.

The next time the Winchester's walk into her dinner there's a little less weight on their shoulders, their smiles are brighter, they sit a little closer together, she even sees Dean and Sam holding hands at one point, and for the first time since she's meet them she hears Jack refer to Sam and Dean as his dad and papa.

She'll never learn the details of what happened that Father's Day or what drove the Winchesters to her town in the first place but as time passes and she sees them become closer she knows that whatever it was they were hoping to fix became a little less broken after that Sunday.