#but I can’t moderate anything like that and also that seems like a bit much for like a tiny little fic pfpfpt

[ohno-the-sun]

More an fyi than an announcement

But if you would like to hear my random ramblings about Luca au I made a little thread in the Daycare Friend Pickup server in the au and oc index channel

Discord is uh- a lot so understandable if peeps don’t wanna do but it’s there if ya want to hear my ramblings

[vampiremourning]

ngl. unconsciously disengaging from this website has been hdjfkg kinda good for my mental health overall? like yes im still dhdjfjf left out of a lot of stuff BUT i see it less so that means my feelings don’t get as hurt lmao. functionally that’s more or less the same thing probably?

going recluse isn’t what i ever want to do (& I didn’t even do it on purpose, just got busy and had a low social battery because of it) but aside from me being overall comfortable by myself, it just kind of seems like it’s where people are content to leave me. doesn’t feel great but it is what it is.

[tragedybunny]

hiya! for the Very Secret Santa =) would love anything fluffy and sweet with just Astarion or Astarion/Tav enjoying a starry night outside. Thank you in advance!

Hope you enjoy this gift! Very special thank you to @satanicspinosaurus for the lovely beta work.

All the Wonders Of the Night - Astarion x GN!Tav

It was the middle of the night, and you were trekking outside of Baldur’s Gate like someone who either didn’t know or didn’t care about the possible dangers outside the walls. Being outside those walls was an important part of your plans though 

You’d spent the night in Rivington, and now you left the last road, and plodded south through the open fields. 

“Where in the hells are you dragging me,” your companion fussed behind you, causing you to smile. Astarion had made strides in the last couple of weeks, but he was still somewhat the irritable vampire you had met on the beach that day. It also seemed that he wasn’t exactly fond of surprises, but this would be worth it, and he must have trusted in that to agree to come with. 

“Not too much further my Love,” you called back behind you, as you navigated your way forward.

“You’re lucky I adore you,” he returned, sounding a bit more chipper. Perhaps he was aware he had come off a little hostile a moment ago. You tried not to correct or police him too much, but there were times it was hurtful and you couldn’t help but say something. 

“I offered to carry the pack,” you remind him teasingly. 

“And let you claim you did all the work?” You must have slowed a bit because he’d closed the distance to wrap his arms around you. “You’d like that wouldn’t you,” he asked, nuzzling into your neck. 

“I could never think to steal your glory.” You answer, grasping his hand to pull him along beside you. 

A few more minutes and you’ve reached your destination, a moderate hill rising out of the grassy plain surrounding it. It’s not much elevation, but it is higher than where you stand. “Up we go,” you say brightly and hear a sigh beside you, which may or may not be sincere. 

The top of the hill offers a calm view, the Chionthar, a dark ribbon on the horizon, and Baldur’s Gate, a collection of lights. Around you, a sea of grass ripples in the gentle night breeze. Not a single stray cloud disrupts the gleaming sky above. A night as perfect as you could ever ask for. 

“This is it,” you announce brightly. 

Astarion looks around skeptically and begins to shed the pack he was carrying. “I’m going to trust you on this one, darling.” 

Taking the pack from him, you kiss his cheek softly, pretending not to notice how he still flushes at small, affectionate gestures. “You won't be disappointed.” 

The heavens are moving though and you'll have to make haste to be ready in time. The supplies in the pack really just amount to a couple bed rolls, some extra blankets, a bottle of wine, and a bit of food for yourself. You’re not so worried about Astarion getting hungry as you’re used to finding yourself the snack when he’s peckish. Quickly, you arrange everything into a comfortable little spot to lay back and look at the sky. 

“Make yourself comfortable,” you say, inviting him to join you as you settle onto the bedrolls, wrapping a blanket over your legs. 

“If you insist,” he says with a grin that you know means mischief. 

In a moment, Astarion is sprawled across your blankets, head in your lap. “You’re like an ill-behaved cat,” you chide and run your hands through his curls. 

“You wouldn’t want me any other way.” A kiss is blown your way, and you just sigh, because you know he’s right. Instead, you fumble your way around him to open up the bottle of wine, without moving him from your lap. “Not to be impatient darling, but I am a little curious why we’re out here.”

You let the first sip of wine wash over your tongue before you answer. It’s white, sweet, melodic, and fruity - the kind of wine Astarion claims to hate. The truth, you know, is that he can’t taste the same as he did before his current state of being. Even the darkest, deepest reds taste cheap to him. You give him every happiness that’s at your disposal, maybe in time you’ll be able to give this too. But for now, tonight will have to do. 

 Taking a glance at the heavens, you gauge the time. “You’ll see soon en-'' Your words are cut off by the first falling star, streaking across the sky. Apparently you were off by a few minutes in your calculations. 

“Oh…” Had you managed to render Astarion speechless? Even with your slight error in timing, his crimson eyes are locked on the sky in enchantment. 

The first falling star was accompanied by another soon after and you poured Astarion a glass of wine even if he’d fuss about the taste. He took it without complaint, head still nestled in your lap, as even more bursts of light filled the night sky above you. 

The rain of stars began to rhythmically fall from the heavens, a dazzling display of lights. The two of you were uncharacteristically silent, attention rapt to the phenomena above you. You let your hand continue to run through Astarion’s hair, every once in a while caressing an ear or skimming your fingers along his forehead. In response, he snatched your hand, alternating between gentle kisses and playful nibbles each time. 

When the pace slowed a bit Astarion finally shifted, pulling you down so that you were lying next to him for a proper cuddle. “So,” you asked nervously, wondering what he’d made of the surprise. 

“That was quite lovely my sweet. And you went to all the work to drag me out here to see it.” He nuzzled against your cheek, leaving soft kisses. 

“Does that mean you enjoyed it?” Face buried in his curls, you inhaled. 

“I..,” his voice catches a little, “I did. You can’t see much of these things from the places I was spending my nights in and obviously Cazador wasn’t going to let us wander off to go star gazing.” You give him a light squeeze, a quiet acknowledgement of that small piece of everything he endured, not even the autonomy to look up at the stars. “But I do have to ask why you decided on this particular outing?”

“You see, it is beautiful, but it’s something beautiful you can only see at night. The night holds a lot of wonders that one can’t experience in the day, you included.” 

“Oh, stop,” his voice trembles.

“I brought you out here to show you, the night is vibrant, alive, and full of wonderful, beautiful things. And I’ll have no regrets about living my life in it, if I get to share it with you. I know you’ve been worried about that.”

Astarion sniffles and buries his face in your neck. “I suppose this means there’s no changing your mind.” 

Your arms tighten around him, holding him close. “You’re stuck with me. I love you, and I want this life with you more than anything.”

Above you, stray stars still fall as you kiss Astarion softly. Relaxing into your touch, you feel his hand on your waist, gripping as though he never wants to see this moment end. But tonight is just the first of many to come, nights as numerous as the stars still standing firm in the heavens.  

@micropoe10 @writingmysanity

Tag list:

@mxxny-lupin @azu21 @tallymonster @dependsonthedream

@sunfire-ancunin  @bambamwolf87 

@fayeriess @lumienyx @lisrelly

@elora-the-slutty-songstress

@bhaalbaaby

[gg-neptune]

Hello ☺️ do you take request ? If yes, could you make your eating disorder headcanon into a fic ? Anyway, I like your Severus version and can’t wait to read your next work.

A/n: Hiiii!!! Yes I do take requests. Thank you so much! I love your works too. I love the way you write Severus but also Sinclair as well the way you portray him is so good I just love it. (I love your works as a whole the way you write is so yummy tickles my brain good) Also sorry it took me a few days I have to write things like this in moderation, but I hope you like it. <333333

Also this is related to my experience with having an Ed and my safe foods. I know not everyone can relate to an exact T, but I still hope if you are struggling with anything like this it can help you. If you know someone who is struggling or if you yourself is struggling, please reach out and get some help. You are not defined by a number or what you eat. You are so much more than that,

Warnings: fear of food, eating, ED, kind of panic attack, talks of feeling sick, anything I missed please tell me

It had been a long day of classes. Nothing terribly bad had happened, but it had just been a long day. Your head seemed to pound harder with each step you took. You were trying to make it back to Severus’ chambers. You two had been in a relationship for the better part of a year, and it was coming along great. He was beginning to warm up to the idea of someone being around. He no longer flinched as you brushed past him. He was now accustomed to sitting together on the couch, and on some days you might even get to sit on his lap. You know most things about him by now. He had slowly opened up to you, spilling out his heart for you. You had done the same. However, there was something you had not told him yet.

Finally, you had made it to the dungeons. Quickening your pace, you walk straight to where Severus is, hoping you don’t run into any students. You two had not been caught sneaking into each other's rooms before, but you had both agreed that if it ever did happen, you would say you were dropping off potion ingredients. Or if he was going to your room, he needed to borrow a book, or, in his words, “I’ll just threaten detention for a month with me one on one; they will leave.” Finally, you find your way to his room. No students were around, so you just slipped inside, not bothering to knock in case a student did come.

“Hey Sev I’m here,” you call out. The loud sound of your voice was like a knife into the skull. Your eyes unfocus as you sway back and forth a bit. Quickly,  you lean against a wall, attempting to steady yourself.

Before you appears a mass of black, “Hello.”

Severus lifts his head up a bit so you can actually see his face. His dark eyes look tired as ever as he looks you up and down, taking you in. He stands there for a moment before pulling you off the wall and leading you into his small sitting space. He had only bothered to furnish it when you had come along.

“You look a bit pale,” he stares at you while he says this, scanning over your face as he lightly pushes you down onto the couch. The plush of the cushions enveloped you as you sunk into them, letting your body relax as you held out your arms for him to join you. He does, carefully sitting beside you, wrapping an arm around you as he still stares at you, carefully examining you.

“I don’t feel all that good,” you reply, trying to downplay it.

“Well, not to be mean, but honestly, you look awful. Your pale and almost green,” concern is laced through his voice as he says this. He pulls you closer to him, keeping you firmly placed beside him. “Have you eaten today?”

“Yeah,” you keep your answer short, not sure if you could keep up lying to him.

“Really? Well, what did you eat then?” He’s on to you, and you know it. His voice is monotone as he bares holes into your eyes, staring down at you like he’s reading your mind.

“Well, for breakfast I had some blueberries and yogurt, and then for lunch I had part of a sandwich,” you gaze up at him, hoping he believes you. His eyes are narrowed into slits, and his mouth is pressed into a thin line.

“I didn’t know lying in a relationship was acceptable,” he states plainly, fixing his posture as he pulls you into his lap, cocking a brow at you. “Now one more time. What did you actually eat today? And don’t lie to me this time.” He isn’t mad, but rather just concerned.

Words choke in your throat as you try to come up with something to say. You can’t lie this time, but what do you say to him?

“I already know you didn’t eat anything, so I will rephrase the question. Why have you not eaten anything?” he questioned. This time his tone was more authoritative. You lean forward and rest your head on his shoulder, not wanting to look him in the eye at the moment, or rather, you don’t think you can.

“I just—um, well, I didn’t feel like it,” you reply. This was not entirely a lie. The entire day had gone by, and you had not felt like eating. However, there was more to it than that alone. 

“How about I go get something from the kitchen right now and bring it back? You need to eat,” Severus replies, rubbing your back as you lean on him. His other arm is wrapped loosely around your waist.

“No, it’s ok, I’m not hungry.”

He stops rubbing your back and lifts his arms up to your shoulders. He pushes you back and makes you look at him, “Liar.”

You don’t know if it was being made to look at him so intensely, or him being on to you like this, or not being as close to him as you were, or the weight of your own thoughts, but your eyes begin to well with tears as he says this. He keeps you held by your shoulders as tears fill your eyes, but his expression softens.

“Please tell me. I can fix it if you tell me,” the man's voice is almost begging as he looks at you. He pulls you back to his chest and gently strokes your back again, attempting to offer comfort. Tears fall from your eyes, but luckily his shirt is there to soak them up. “I’ll fix it; just tell me what’s wrong,” he whispers out into your hair. His voice is breaking the sight of you crying into him like this is breaking him. Of course he already knows why, but for once in his life, he is hoping his Legimens skills have led him wrong.

“I need to—I just lose some weight, you know?” You try your best to keep your voice steady as you say this. He almost instantly wraps his arms tightly around you as if he is trying to shield you from your thoughts as soon as you say that. You shove your face in his neck to hide your tears, and you take a deep breath to try and steady yourself, but you find it a tad hard to breathe. Severus’ grip on you has tightened so much.

“Sev- I can’t breathe,” you choke out, still fighting back tears. He loosens his grip but still keeps his arms firmly around you as you say this.

"No, you don't; you weigh perfectly fine. You need food,” his voice is no longer breaking but rather strong and determined now as he stands bringing you along with him. He sets you down back on the couch. “Now. You stay here, here take this,” he grabs a large quilt from one of the choirs in the area and drapes it over you, bundling you in it, “and then when I get back I’m going to have food. And you're going to eat. And you won't gain weight because food doesn't work like that. Am I clear?” His hands are on his hips as he stares down at your teary eyes. His expression is soft, but his voice is showing much concern. He leans down and gently wipes a few stray tears from your eyes. 

"No, no, I can’t,” you cry out. The thought of food is making you feel sick. “I can’t eat; I can't, Severus.” Your voice is weak and trembling.

"Yes, you can, and you will. It won’t be a lot, I promise, but you will eat.” He says this like it is the most simple thing in the world. Like you, eating would be simple for you. However, you knew better. You have been struggling with your relationship with food for a while now. Everything about it seemed to make you sick. You tended to avoid it because of this fact. However, when faced with a situation where you had to, it would manage to find its way up one way or another.

Severus presses a kiss to your head and then your lips before speaking, “I promise it will be ok,” his voice, gentle and soothing, “you need to eat pretty. I’ll be right back, and I will be here with you the entire time, I promise.” With that, he leaves, going to the kitchens leaving you with your thoughts for a few moments.

What would you do when he came back with food? You had not eaten in so long; you were not even sure if what you were feeling was hunger anymore. How are you going to deflect it this time?

Thoughts race through your head a mile a minute. It seemed like no time at all that Severus was back. Immediately he was in front of you again, attempting to soothe you. You had not realized, but your hands had gone to your hair, gripping tightly as if you were trying to pull your own hair out. Your breathing was rapid and shallow as you pressed yourself into the back of the couch, trying to enclose yourself in a space you deemed safe.

“Love, please look at me.” His voice was almost pleading, but he was making a great attempt at keeping it strong and steady for you. Slowly you lifted your eyes up to him, trying to calm down your breathing, but it was as if your hands were not your own, as they kept gripping tighter and tighter no matter how hard you tried to relax them.

His hands lift up to yours and gently cover them in an attempt to get you to relax. “Relax, it’s me. Just me. You and me.”

Slowly your hands relax, and he removes them from your head. “You're ok, come here; you're safe; it’s ok.” He pulls you to his chest, pulling you into his lap. He lifts himself onto the couch, sitting with you curled in his lap, completely safe.

After a while of silence, he was just holding you close. You began to hope he was going to drop the idea of making you eat something, but soon he crushed your hopes. “I brought mainly really light stuff. Nothing heavy like soup.”

He leans forward, and with one hand (the other still wrapped around you), he grabs a container and opens it, and inside is plain, uncooked broccoli.

“I used to eat this all the time when I was younger and I felt bad,” he says happily, taking a piece for himself and eating the top of it, smiling down at you.

“Severus, I'm not eating uncooked broccoli.”

“Why not? I’m here for you, love. I promise throughout it all I will be.

“It has nothing to do with that; it’s the fact it’s plain and uncooked. I’m not eating it,” you huff out. You lean back against his chest as he eats the rest of his broccoli and then reaches forward for the next container he brought.

"Well, fine then. I brought yogurt as well and this granola bar. Any of that sounds good,” he looks down at you. His eyes are filled with nothing but love. No judgment is present at all, only pure unconditional love.

“I guess, I dunno,” you respond, shying away from his eye contact. You hide your face on his shoulder. His arm comes back to you to wrap around you again. He begins to stroke your back again.

“I’ll be here. How about a few bites of the yogurt, hm? Then your stomach will have something on it, at least, ok.” His voice is gentle and calming as he whispers into your ear.

“I don’t want to gain weight,” you whimper out into him. Your arms wrap tightly around him, clinging for support. 

“Love, you won’t gain weight from this. Not fatty weight, at least, ok? A couple of bites of food won’t do that to you. And even if it did, you would be beautiful as ever, you hear me? You need to eat. I can’t stand to see you not, to see my girlfriend wasting away, and I know that might sound dramatic, but if you keep this up, you will. Let’s conquer this together, ok? I know you can, and I will be here with you to help you throughout everything. I am always with you through everything. Always.” He tries hard to get these words out, as he is not good with them. He struggles to say things in the heat of a moment, but he wants desperately to comfort you right now. He wants you to know there is nothing to worry about with him there. He’s going to keep you safe regardless of what you think.

He reaches forward and picks up the tub of yogurt. It’s your favorite flavor. You don’t know if you’ve ever mentioned this to him, and if you did, it was in passing, but regardless, he remembered. He grabs a spoon and opens the container. “Now don’t be frightened by how big the container is; I don’t expect you to eat all of it. Let’s go for at least 5 decent bites, alright?”

You nod in agreement, “I’ll try.”

He dips the spoon into the container and then lifts it to your mouth, offering it to you. For a moment, you stare at it wearily. Before coming up with an idea, “Severus distract me. Tell me a story or something.”

He puts the spoon back into the container and looks at you curiously. “What kind of story?”

“Just be descriptive, something to take my mind off what I am doing.”

"Well, all right,” he picks the spoon back up and begins telling a story of a dragon.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Once there was a dragon. He was dark purple with sharp horns sticking out of almost every inch of his skin. Many dragons in his area with horns were red or orange and not purple, making him very undesirable to the female dragons in his area. By the time he was just a baby, he had already discovered he was undesirable and unworthy of those around him. His odd coloring and horns were a result of his mother and father breeding from different tribes. This was forbidden in his land.

The dragon lived a lonely life. He lived atop a mountain and came down once a day to drink and eat. Each time he came down, he saw the same old other dragons who looked at him with judging and disapproving eyes. He had been met with this type of gaze his entire life. No one else was dark purple and had horns like him.

However, one time, on his way down to drink, he spotted another purple dragon. He at first suspected it was from his mother's tribe (his father having the horns, his mother being purple); however, the closer he got, he realized it too had horns. He knew immediately he had to go see up close.

As not to frighten the other dragon, who was drinking from the river, he went on the opposite side and pretended to lap up some water himself. His eyes stayed on the other purple-horned dragon the entire time, never leaving it. He was used to the judging stares he got, so he always suspected he was rather ugly; however, looking at the dragon before him, he could not help but think it was a beautiful sight.

Seeing it up close, he realized the dragon was a female dragon. She had the same coloring he did and the same horns all over as him.

She looked up, having sensed eyes on her, and was immediately met with his eyes gazing at her. He was almost too scared to move, but he managed to try to muster up the best smile he could.

He was unsure what her reaction would be for a moment, but soon she was flying over to his side of the river to join him.

“Who are your parents?” she questioned. Her voice was strong but still held a hint of curiosity in it.

“Norbert of the West and Falkor of the North.”

She studied him for a moment, almost trying to see if he was lying before her muscles seemed to relax.

They fell into easy conversation after this. They shared many of the same experiences throughout life, making it easy to bond. When it was nightfall, he offered his mountain up to her, and she happily agreed to the sleepover.

It was the first time in both of their lives that they did not feel alone. 

Many months passed. They had flown everywhere together, both having found a new spirit to go and explore the world. After a while, they settled back down atop the mountain since winter was fast approaching. 

“You are welcome to stay with me.”

“I would love nothing more.”

And that was the tale of the two odd dragons. One might believe that they will never find their one, but they will eventually. You are never truly only. Your person may just be a tad lost in finding you. Or, hell, you might be the one lost.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Before you knew it, you had eaten your 5 decent bites and even a few more. Severus realized, but you had now. Transfixed on his story, you had lost count and pushed the thoughts away from your mind as best as you could any time they would come near. He reached the end of the story at last.

“I made that up on the spot completely,” he admitted somewhat sheepishly, “but I think it was good.”

“It did what it was supposed to,” you respond. You lean back over to Severus once he has put away the yogurt and other food items, sending them to the kitchen with a flick of his wand.

He opens his arms for you and leans back against the armrest of the sofa, holding you to his chest once more.

“How do you feel?”

“Ok.”

“Just ok? No bad or good feelings, just ok,” his eyes meet yours, and you can tell he is genuinely concerned. He wants to see you eat, and he wants you to be healthy.

"Yeah, I’m just ok.”

Silence is cast over the two of you. You bask in his warmth, and he basks in yours. He makes a point of keeping his arms tightly wrapped around you, like he is scared you will slip away.

“Promise me something,” he breaks the silence. His baritone voice is almost jarring with how quiet it had been.

“Promise when you're struggling like this, you’ll come to me. I don’t care what I’m doing; I want to make sure you are okay.”

You grip his arm tightly, processing his words. In a perfect world, you would immediately just say that you promised, but you knew how it could be sometimes. Sometimes it wasn’t that easy. But look at you now. You're not feeling as awful as you were. Your headache is beginning to fade a bit, your stomach is not aching like it was, and now you are getting to be held by Severus. So maybe you could promise.

“I will be there for you anytime you need me; I promise you that. I swear to you I will be. I just need you to promise that you will tell me when you need me.”

“I promise to try my best to tell you when I need you,” you respond, knowing full well this was not a lie. You would do your best in the future to try to tell him what you were going through.

“Thank you, beautiful. Get some sleep, ok? I can tell you're exhausted. You did so good, you’ve earned it.”

Humming in response, you press your ear to his chest, wanting to listen to his heartbeat, and close your eyes. Very soon you drift off safe and sound in Severus’ arms. Perfect just the way you are, no matter what you eat, because you are not defined by calories or your weight.

[waywardstation]

Fair Trade

Akari shares with Ingo a bag of candy she found while distortion diving, though Ingo more appreciates the familiar feelings that sharing candy brings back than anything.

Happy Halloween!! I wrote this off a request an anon gave me about Akari sharing Halloween candy with Ingo. Hope you enjoy!! This is my first bit of writing that I’ve actually published in a while, and it feel like this writing in particular is a lot of nothing, but it was fun just to get something out again!!

OR read here on AO3!

Enjoy!

————

“I am finding it very hard to believe that you dislike chocolate this much.”

“Come on,” From where she sat on the dojo bench, Akari held her hand out to Ingo, the shiny, brightly-colored wrapper in her palm already unfoiled to reveal the candy inside. “It’s not that I don’t like them, I just like other candy more. And I can’t eat all of these myself, so I gotta pick and choose. Also, you have to take it, I already opened it.”

Looking back at her from his position by the dojo, Ingo’s expression was one of discernment — she could certainly just wrap it back up and save it for later. She also could have done that with the last six candies she had handed to him. But eventually, he relented and took it. Popping it into his mouth with an obligatory “Thank you”, Ingo returned to casting his glance at the training grounds’ gate.

Unlike Akari, he had not realized how sorely he had specifically missed sweet, modernized chocolate until she had first given him a piece several minutes earlier, when she had come by the training grounds to see him with a big mystery bag in her hands.

“Look at this, Ingo!” She had called out to him, holding the packaging up against the sunset sky for him to see — orange and purple, it was full of colorful wrappers, and seemed to be decorated with ghost pokemon (some silhouettes he recognized much more clearly than others). “I found this in one of the distortions! Help me eat it!”

A moderately-sized, unopened bag of cheap assorted candies, wrapped in shiny foils that obscured the flavor and kept its brand a surprise until it was opened. No doubt it had been pulled from some store shelf, if not an unfortunate person’s cabinet. Akari had been unwrapping the candies one by one; if it was revealed to be a fruit chew or something of the sort, she ate it herself, but the chocolates were handed off to Ingo.

Reaching her hand back onto the bag, Akari fished out another wrapper and twisted it open, revealing a green gummy inside that vaguely resembled a cherubi’s shape.

“Gummy.” She announced to no one in particular, chewing on it and stuffing the wrapper into her satchel. Picking out and unwrapping another before she had even finished her candy, she held it out to Ingo. “Chocolate. Here.”

“Ah, thank you,” Ingo received it with waning enthusiasm, but dropped it into his mouth regardless. “Have you perhaps considered sharing with your friend Rei as well?”

“Yeah, but last time I did, he got sick the next day. He said he doesn’t want them anymore.”

“How many have you had?” Watching Akari pull out yet another candy from the bag, Ingo was beginning to wonder if she was planning to stop at some point, or keep pushing through until the bag was empty. Knowing her, he believed it would be the latter.

“I don’t know, maybe… Nine? Ten?” The teen did not look up from the candy she was currently unwrapping. “I haven’t been counting.”

Ingo looked away, back towards the dojo’s gates as Akari peeked through the small opening she had made in her wrapper. He was acutely aware of how anything as processed and sugary as candy would not mix well with a digestive system that had become accustomed to a Hisuian diet — concerning both Akari, and himself.

“I advise taking these tracks a little slower; there is no need to rush towards the end of the line in just one night, lest you end up like Rei.”

“Oh man, if you think I’ll get sick off of this, you should really see all the junk I eat that I don’t bring back to share with you,” Akari brushed it off with a laugh as if his recommendation was a joke, before holding another unwrapped candy out to him again. “Chocolate. Here you go.”

“...Thank you.” Ingo echoed once again, tentatively receiving the bite-size candy bar. He chewed it with a look on his face – hard to discern, but appearing to be guilty for appreciating it. He waved Akari off preemptively with a hand before she could even unwrap another candy. “But please, no more; Miss Zisu is supposed to return back from the hall at any moment to accompany me to The Wallflower. I don’t want to spoil my appetite.”

“Well all you have to do is stop taking them, then!” Akari’s voice was tickled with amusement. Plastic crinkled as another wrapper was opened; thankfully for Ingo’s sake, bright, soft pink was revealed under the shiny covering. “Ugh, Taffy.”

Ingo cleared his throat as Akari bit into it anyways, having nothing to say at being called out – he certainly could refuse, but a part of him didn’t want to. And it went beyond the plain craving for the processed sweetness after such a long period of going without it.

Something about the flavor was obviously familiar to him, but that wasn’t exactly what kept nagging him to repeatedly want just one more. In fact, there really was much to be desired from cheap, waxy chocolate.

It was more so the simple act of Akari specifically handing a candy to him that she didn’t want, but knew he liked. It felt like it was tugging on a dormant cord still connected between his heart and his memories.

There wasn’t a lot there, but it was attached to something, deep down.

( )( )( )( )( )( )

It was just like when he and (Emmet went trick-or-treating together as children. The two of them) would always return home with enough candy that (could have lasted them several months, but) would probably only survive a week or two (between themselves and their Pokémon). They would always take turns trading (their candy between each other at the end of the night. Emmet) enjoyed the sour variety of treats and gummies (that would oftentimes end up leaving him with a sore mouth,) while he preferred the sweeter chocolates and (candy bars).

And (when Elesa had come into their lives during their teenage years,) the group would continue the tradition (of trick-or-treating together, and then) swapping at the end of the night. (Chocolates were not willingly traded to him nearly as easily anymore, and) he often ended up being traded the things neither (Emmet or Elesa) wanted. But he didn’t mind (because he liked them well enough, more so than the other two).

And even (into adulthood, when going trick-or-treating from door to door) was swapped out for (late-night scary movie marathons with friends, He found a habit had formed where) he was often handed (the candy bowl near the end of the night, in order to finish off the bit of) untouched candy no one else wanted. (Emmet and Skyla) would lightheartedly jab at him (for functionally being their candy disposal bin, but Elesa would defend him while he himself just laughed,) taking it all in jest.

( )( )( )( )( )( )

…It was just like when he and someone else would always return home with enough candy that would last probably only a week or two. They’d take turns trading, the other enjoying sour candies while he preferred the sweet ones. And when their group continued swapping candy, he was often traded what no one else wanted. But he didn’t mind. And even when things… changed, he still was given the candy that no one else wanted. They would make jokes about him for it, but it was all in jest.

There was so much missing, Ingo knew there was, and it made things confusing as to what actually happened. But he certainly didn’t feel bad about any part of it, when he lingered on the feelings that were left behind.

The fragments were horrifically shattered and spread apart over many, many memories, he could tell. But something about it was comforting. Perhaps it was the fact that so many memories seemed linked together; it implied that this was something that had never changed even while time went on, something that had been continued over a large span of his prior life. He had done something with friends very frequently. And it was something he enjoyed very much.

They were happy memories of people he couldn’t quite remember, and while that was not a novel experience for him at this point, it still dimmed the warmth around the edges. But he could not ignore that it was also cathartic, in an aching, lonely way, to feel that they were so worn and repetitive.

The phantom memories gradually retreated back out of reach, keeping their distance as the sweet aftertaste of the cheap chocolate faded. Something about the fact that an action as seemingly insignificant as being handed unwanted candy, and how it was able to dredge up only emotional remnants of so many hazy recollections… it was a little frustrating for Ingo, if he was being honest.

The complete picture was always just out of reach, it felt like.

But he had lost his entire previous life to the foggy nowhere that used to be his mind. There were a lot of pieces to pick up, and he supposed a substantial amount of them would be small and insignificant — when something shattered like this, there were usually many more small pieces than big ones.

“Another chocolate.”

Ingo blinked, his thoughts giving way to the view of the training ground’s dirt beneath his shoes, then to Akari as he turned to her — she had leaned forward to nudge his wrist with her own hand. Of course, a chocolate nestled within an opened wrapper was held between her fingers.

“Ah-” Ingo hesitated for perhaps a moment too long with a look that may have been a bit too piercing, as Akari’s hand began to retract.

“Right, sorry,” Akari sat back, leaning against the dojo wall behind her as she situated the bag back on her lap. “I know, I shouldn’t keep handing you these when you’re about to go have dinner.”

“No no, it’s alright,” Ingo hastily attempted to correct the misunderstanding. “I apologize, I was not rejecting it; my mind simply drifted elsewhere for a moment.”

“So…” With the usual spirited look returning to her features, Akari held the candy back up. “You do want another piece?”

One last glance over at the gate, but of course Zisu was still nowhere in sight. Only the autumn sunset past the village buildings, and a distant collection of drifblim mingling with the clouds over the fieldlands.

Ingo huffed through his nose and turned to join Akari on the bench, taking the empty spot next to her as the wood creaked beneath him. “…Perhaps just one more; Miss Zisu has not arrived yet, after all. She did say it would be a quick stop by the Commander’s office, but I’ll be honest; knowing her appreciation for conversation, I could be waiting here for her for another half hour.”

Akari held the candy back out to him, and this time, Ingo accepted it. “Thank you.”

Placing the chocolate in his mouth, Ingo sat back as he chewed on it. Mulling over the warm feelings of familiarity that briefly returned once again with the flavor, Ingo wondered if the memories themselves would return at some point as well.

[minkyungseokie]

Toxicity within Formula One

I usually never give my own opinions on anything Formula One related because I’m afraid of getting hate, but I am sick of it, and I will finally want my opinion heard.

For a sport that’s not as popular as any other sport in the world, there is so much toxicity and animosity between fans. Either fans of people on the same team or fans of people on different teams are going at each other for no reason and it mostly happens within Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull. Lately, Mercedes has been infighting more than worrying about anything else.

You’ve got(and I’m not generalizing the fans. I’m calling out all the toxic ones. So, when I say fans, I meant the highly toxic people who be smirch others names and hype up their own favorite)

Russell fans calling Hamilton washed and occasionally saying racist things about him

Hamilton fans discrediting Georgia’s achievements and saying he will never be as good as Hamilton(also the people who are stuck on Abu Dhabi 2021)

Carlos fans making fun of Georges crash and saying the rudest things about Hamilton just because of a decision to not keep Carlos with the occasional racism

Charles fans doing the exact same thing Carlos fans are doing, but on a little bit lighter level because I haven’t really seen Charles fans being as rude to Lewis as Carlos fans

Max fans thinking they are on top of the world and absolutely nothing can touch them and being toxic overall

I don’t really see a lot of Checo fans, but the ones I have seen are always overshadowed by the max fans, but they are still toxic

Alex fans hating on Logan just because he’s not as good as Alex. Pretty much everyone’s fans hating on Logan for being American AB’s being xenophobic

Logan fans are pretty chill, but with what happened yesterday, they aren’t as chill as you think. There is no reason that they should be sending hate, and death threats to Alex because of a decision that was not his.

Fernando fans are pretty chill usually when I look at the comment section of Aston Martin. Unless it comes down to the LGBTQ. The amount of hate towards the LGBTQ under Aston Martin’s post by both Still fans, Alonso fans, and other team’s fans is disgusting.

Stroll fans usually don’t do anything except try to defend their favorite person, but I can assure you that they are not innocent just because you rarely see them being toxic. The whole thing with Bianca proved that, but I’m pretty sure that it was mostly just people who usually don’t like Stroll taking the chance to be misogynistic instead of criticizing her like everyone else was doing

Yuki fans, journalists, and other fans just calling Daniel washed and saying that he should give his seat up to Liam and wishing horrinle thing upon him

Daniel fans infantilizing Yuki, occasionally being racist, making fun of things he cannot control, and just being overall terrible people towards Yuki

And that’s not even all of it because then there’s the fighting of other teams still going on. And the overall hatred of Alpine for some reason.

Now, I can’t say much for the fans of Kick, Alpine, and Haas. I scroll through their comment sections and it’s usually people criticizing the team itself for their crappy cars or crappy pitstop. I don’t follow Haas so I don’t know how their comment section is like.

Of course, there are toxic people within those three teams fandom too, but go to their comment section, it’s mostly wholesome. Still toxic occasionally, but way more wholesome than Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bulls

I didn’t forget about McLaren, but they seem to actually be moderating their comment sections

I’m aware of how toxic Instagram is, but it’s not just on Instagram. It’s on YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, I’m not calling Twitter X.

I know this is probably just going to get me hated on, and I’m probably yapping about nothing, but I feel like people take things way too seriously.

This is a sport. Meant for enjoyment and entertainment. I understand that not everyone is going to get along, and that there’s always going to be toxic people, but some of those same toxic people get upset when people are toxic towards their favorite.

This is probably all sounding like absolute Yapanese right now and I’m sorry if I haven’t properly got my point across. I’ll fix this in the morning when I’m more clear minded, but I wanted to point out just how toxic this fandom is. It’s more toxic than any other fandom I’ve been in except for K-pop

These are screenshots of responses to a comment on RB’s post about Yuki actually being in P7 after Alonso got a penalty. The comment said let’s not hate on Daniel because he will pick it back up. This is only a taste of what I mean.

I can’t even go back to Ferrari to screenshot comments and explain what I mean and I’m not going to Red Bulls page for that either because seeing the comments make me sick. But this is what I mean. And these are the tame ones.

Formula One fans need to realize that these men are not toys. They are not just entertainment. They are human beings with feelings who make mistakes just like everyone else does. They do, say, and act very stupidly, sometimes, but that does not warrant some of the stuff that is said to them. They do not deserve death threats, and hate just for crashing and being afraid for their life or enjoying a win they deserve.

They are not toys. They are human beings. Just like you and me and they deserve respect because they put their lives on the line to do with their love and entertain their fans.

Speaking of fans while I’m at it. Respect the privacy of the drivers. Someone filming George Russell while he’s using the year or not and posting it on TikTok is not okay and should never ever be considered okay

Here are some comments from George’s post where he’s apologizing for crashing and saying that he’s going to try to do better

And don’t even get me started on the Ferrari fans bitching about Carlos leaving. It’s an extreme sport, no one‘s going to stay on their team forever just because they got one win and a couple of podium. I hate to sound toxic, but the way some of those, grown ass men and women are talking about Hamilton as if he’s not the seven time world champion as wild. It’s not Hamilton’s fault that Ferrari thought he would be a better fit.

I sincerely love Ferrari and their drivers, and I wish him the best and it makes me happy to see them win, but it does not make me happy to see the fans thinking that they rule the world, and that no one on the grid is better than Carlos. I love Carlos, but if Hamilton had a better car and Max‘s car didn’t start setting itself on fire, he would not have won.

Again, I hate to say that because it sounds like I’m hating on him, but I’m not. That’s why I like Tumblr better, because the people on TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram, are all… I don’t even even know how to say it without sounding weird. So this is where I’ll end it for now.

And before anyone says anything, I know it’s an extreme sport and people are gonna hate on someone that’s not their favorite driver, but the people I’m talking about are taking it way too far. You shouldn’t hate on anyone just because they aren’t your favorite in general, But I’ve seen a Ferrari fan called Hamilton a monkey because he’s going to be joining the team.

I’ve seen a Daniel fan say only sushi eaters like Yuki. As in, only Japanese people like Yuki, and nobody else.

There’s a difference between expressing your dislike towards something somebody did, and something somebody has said, and being extremely toxic. Some of you might have even been those toxic people if you are, do better, because even just saying something like that on the Internet can make karma come for you.

[presidentbungus]

Scout has incredible street smarts! While it seems irrelevant in the base dropped in the middle of nowhere, he is invaluable during contract missions located within urban areas.

He can notice an undercover cop in a second, distinguish accents, recognize a scam happening, pinpoint a drug dealer who looks like a sweet old granny and see the signs of some group's terf markings. The team is looking for some local hotshot and they have no leads? Scout runs to the downtown and locates the first bodega/laundromat/bar/gas station/pizza parlor, blends in and befriends some entry-position-apprentice who gives him all the info he needs.

South Boston is the top school in the world for the street-smarts and Scout graduated it with honors.

yep! while scout has resigned himself to the position of “the stupid one” alongside a crowd of extremely talented, socially awkward PhD owners, once somebody finally has the idea that he seems good at talking and drags him along on a mission they figure out pretty quick that holy shit this kid is good at talking.

Engie’s usually the negotiator if they need one at all, mostly because he knows how to say please and thank you when it seems necessary, but he still has sort of a… distrustful aura around him. the accent’s disarming, sure, and does a great job pushing through a crowd of white middle-aged church moms, but it turns out there are a lot of parts where a moderately-wealthy-looking fourty-year-old white man with a little bit of a weird glint in his eyes ain’t really that welcome. so they might send scout in, since he really, really wants to go in and they’re all out of options (unless they want to send sniper, and he’d probably leave the building having bitten at least four people on reflex)—and when he comes back out he’s got everything they need to know, plus some free snacks, plus an invite to some teenage boy’s birthday party.

it turns out that little air of authenticity goes a long way—and the team watches him flip from polite upstanding church-boy cashier to poor sad orphan boy on the streets to egregiously annoying emotional armor-shredding “class clown” in what seems like seconds, and I guess it should occur to someone at some point that he’s spent his entire life figuring out how to blend in places like that and get what he wants.

(everybody would joke he got the ‘good actor’ gene from spy, if it didn’t just make them sad. also, a few people see him effortlessly skating his way person-to-person, molding his conversational targets like putty, and wonder exactly how much of an act he might be putting on back at the base, too.)

addendum: of all the characters he is able to axt in, “suave” or “ladykiller” or anything along those lines is not one of them. please don’t get me wrong. he’s the friendly face you see on the other end of the sidewalk, or the guy you run into at the grocery store that turns towards you and awkwardly tells a whole bunch of jokes in a row and it’s so weirdly pathetic and charming at the same time you can’t help but laugh, but he’s still terrible at romance, and as a matter of fact most things Involving charisma in general. he just takes advantage of that sad wet kitten energy, you know? it works out

[charliemwrites]

Hi beautiful Charlie. I've been adoring this whole kept reader au so I wanted to thank you for the immense amount of work you've been putting into it, but it also seems like you've been getting so much interaction, I can totally imagine it getting a bit exhausting. Is there anything you'd like us to keep in mind when interacting with your blog which may make your life a little easier, or anything you find tough and you'd appreciate us refraining from/doing in moderation? Also, is there any concept or idea that you want to explore and haven't been able to talk about because this au takes up its space? You're so tremendously talented and everything you produce is so wonderful it can be very very tempting to demand mindlessly from you like you're an instant gratification machine lmao, but I want us to be able to give back to you since you're always giving us so much. Take care, I'm sending a lot of love 💕

Hello and good morning/evening/afternoon!

That’s so incredibly thoughtful and I really, truly appreciate it. I have enjoyed working on this tremendously and never expected as much interaction as I’ve gotten. But I’m unbelievably grateful!

With how many people are interacting with this series, I do wanna say that it’s taking me a couple days now to get to asks and prompts. Not because I don’t want to answer them, but because I do want to answer them thoughtfully and creatively! Everyone has been very polite and patient, but I worry that people think I don’t want to do their asks just because I can’t respond as instantly as when this series first began.

Certain asks also take a bit more time - like ones that request full drabbles/oneshots for more than one of the pets. Or ones that require angsty vibes. again, i enjoy doing these, i just dont always have the time or energy to get to them for a day or two.

A few longer projects that I plan to post to ao3 have been delayed with my focus on keeper/kept but that’s just the nature of the muse lol.

Thank you again for such a kind and thoughtful message, I can’t describe how much it means to me.

[stuckasmain]

Cw: Suicidal intent/thoughts

There is a underlying sadness to Christian that seemingly goes unnoticed, both by his friends and the fans themselves. This is much more prevalent in the musical as it comes to a head with him nearly taking his own life on stage. Interestingly enough this was built up to throughout the show and not “just over a girl” though she plays a part in it. Christian is actually quite a sad figure when you look deeper into his character besides love sick American.

He expressly states from the beginning arriving in Montmartre he came to find

“Where I could belong. Where my heart could be free. To be a child of the revolution! To be artist…to fall in love. To loose myself in the dazzling chaos of Montmartre. Everything I wanted to be etc”

He gives such a wistful monologue about this being the place he had dreamed of for so long. He knows exactly what the Denison’s are, what they do and stand for and he’s been longing for it. Christian is also aware the bohemian life is one not made to last- they burn passionately but are put out quickly. They die young. Be that by their own hand, addiction, murder, disease etc. He knows all of this and it’s what he wants. (My heroes have the heart etc. This is much later but much more direct and about artistic suicide).

Christian is a sensitive boy. We don’t know much about his life before arriving in Paris but what we do know is he studied music in school and that his father is a absolutely horrible man. One who he probably had to fight to even learn music, one who would do anything to beat the sweet and sensitive Christian into a “Real man”. From this we can probably gage his family is well off, upper-middle, enough to send him to boarding school or university. He views paris as a escape from his “Suffocating life in America” he wants to be wild and free and himself like all of his heroes— this is where he can truly live! Poverty or not.

When he meets satine he falls in love for the first time, in his narration he even admits to being irrational. She is everything to him. She’s his first real experience with human connection on a romantic level and I can suspect she knows far more about him than even Toulouse and Santiago. Satine is far more than his lover, she’s his everything- as cheesy as it sounds. Loving her makes life worth living. In come what may he quite literally states “suddenly my life doesn’t seem such a waste”. He’s not as naturally optimistic as everyone around him thinks- her love and the dazzle of the new world around him is what’s making him so, he’s riding that high. When he crashes? It’s hard. “Why else suffer through this life, if not for love?”

And yet, they all view him as a hopeful boy with his whole life ahead of him as if he hadn’t arrived in Paris to throw it away. To bury himself in a fast , passionate but short life of art and feeling. He’s here for a second chance, to give meaning to his life— he wouldn’t leave it behind this place is why he’s so happy and alive! Toulouse and Satine think he’s trapped here, think they drag him down etc while ignoring its expressly what he wants…this is what dooms them all. By trying to protect him, lie to him, “give him a chance” he’s getting hurt far more.

“Who came to Paris to find himself and instead found all of this. A place to belong, people to love, and a woman. A woman who showed him all that truly matters in life.”

Christian would rather live incredibly poor and with a moderate writing success that rich and unable to fully express himself. Something I love about johns performance is that during Roxanne “Feelings I canttttt hide!” He hits himself in the head- he’s both incredibly drunk but also tearing himself apart because he can’t hide how he feels even for a little bit and that always ends poorly. Even here- even a place so wild and open he messed things up, while he’s a very springy and optimistic character at times. I’m tired of this nuance and underlying sadness going ignored.

[twopoppies]

Hi, Gina! This is not directed to you, but I've seen that you get asks about this every once in a while. Am I the only one who finds it a bit uncomfortable when people so unabashedly discuss and speculate Harry's gender? Sexuality is a different thing, but according to me gender is a whole different ballgame. Coming to terms with your own gender identity is a long and difficult process and surely not one anyone would want to go through publicly. Why does it matter if Harry is cis/trans/nb or anywhere else on the spectrum? That doesn't change a single thing, does it? I get that people speculate his sexuality because that changes a whole lot in terms of his life, but even then his exact label is none of anyone's business, and his gender most definitely isn't. I saw some people speculating a few days ago, that maybe he was going through a transition and that according to me definitely crosses the line!! It's things like these, that when they sometimes catch a tabloid's attention, make us look stupid!

I like the way you tackle these asks, but I feel that there has been way too much conversation about this. Also, I hope these people realise how regressive it is to doubt Harry's gender identity because he dresses a certain way or carries himself a certain way!! I personally think that this topic should be contained till a few respectful she/her jokes!!

Hi sugar. Well, there’s a whole lot to tackle in this ask and I’m really not the best person to unravel it for you because I’m cis and anything I know, I’ve learned from listening to trans people in this fandom.

But, from what I’ve understood from the ones I know, or who I follow, or who I’ve seen on my dash, is that they’ve recognized certain signaling/coding from Harry that feels very familiar to their own gender journeys. So they’ve floated the possibility that H may be trans (as an umbrella term that encompasses genders such as non-binary, gender fluid, gender queer, agender etc etc). None of them have ever insisted that he is any particular gender. But all of them have said that there’s nothing wrong with discussing gender, as there’s nothing to be ashamed of in not being cis.

I’m confused by your assertion that his sexuality would affect his life in a big way, but his gender wouldn’t. That seems really off-base to me. It also seems like something that would differ from person to person.

I agree with you that the public isn’t entitled to know his labels. At the same time, he’s the one who’s putting this information out there that fans are noticing. If it was something he wanted to keep very private and didn’t want people to know, I think he’d behave much differently. But, as you say, his gender identity can’t be determined by his clothing or the way he moves his body. But those are ways in which some people express their gender. So it’s a really nuanced conversation that I’m really not equipped to moderate.

The bottom line is, I am following the lead of the trans people around me, both in fandom and in my own life. They’re obviously not all going to agree, just as not every queer person is going to agree on topics of sexuality. I’m also looking to Harry, and those closest to him, to see how they respond and react to the subject both as a general topic, and as it pertains to him.

I hope that was somewhat articulate. It’s a big topic that I’m not fully comfortable exploring publicly, as it doesn’t feel like my place.

[goodnigth]

i got u julia!! i’m not sure how much you know so i’ll start from the beginning:

a little bit ago, reddit announced they were changing their api and removing third party apps. third party apps (which span from common browsing apps like apollo that make the interface easier to see on mobile to the many websites like unddit which show deleted/removed posts and comments) have been allowed with reddit since i believe the beginning of reddit. these apps were not only what many moderators used to run subreddits but also provided accessibility functions—removing third parties would make reddit inaccessible to visually impaired people

to protest this change, a huge amount of subreddits chose to “go dark” (they would private the subs, making it so no one could post or even access the subreddit until it was made public again. making a subreddit private and then public does not remove any of the followers or anything like that, so everything would return to normalcy after publicizing the sub again). a 48-hour blackout protest from i believe june 12-14 was planned, and thousands of subs joined, including major ones like r/pics (with 30 million members). privatizing the subs also means no ads on them, so reddit would lose revenue from this

a huge handful of subs chose to go private indefinitely. when the protest did not inspire reddit admins to make any changes to their plans, subs remained private past june 14th. a huge sub, r/196, even chose to shut down entirely

after a few days, the major subs that were protesting indefinitely were threatened by admins to open up again or else their entire mod team would be replaced. this did in fact end up happening with a few subs, but i can’t name them off the top of my head

phase two of the protest: the threatened subs chose to reopen again but changed the rules of the subs. the most popular example is again r/pics, which went from a subreddit dedicated to any type of sfw photos to a sub dedicated only to photos of john oliver. the other subs i’ve talked about include r/Wellthatsucks which turned into a vacuum sub, r/egg_irl which went from a trans meme sub to a sub for literal eggs, and r/aww which now also only posts john oliver

as subs started opening up again, they realized that making a sub NSFW means they won’t be advertised on. so r/InterestingAsFuck, a sub with 11 million members, went NSFW and began allowing actual porn on their sub. this was how the sub was for about two or three days until…

admins removed all the mods from the sub and rendered it unusable. you can’t post to it anymore because they took away the whole mod team. they did this with r/MildlyInteresting as well but replaced all the mods, except they revealed this was supposedly an “accident” and reinstated all of them. this is suggested to be because reddit thought r/MildlyInteresting was also planning on becoming NSFW but were not

right now, we seem to be going into phase three of the protest, as r/PoliticalHumor has now apparently made all 1 million members of its sub mods under the guise that reddit cannot possibly remove them all. i am 100% serious, this is genuinely what’s happening on reddit right now. they are failing because corporate greed.

THIS IS SO WILD

[dannypuro]

Hi! I've been following you on AO3 for a couple of years now, and I just wanted to ask, do you have any plans to finish something else telling or do you consider it abandoned? I've just finished rereading it and felt it was such a shame it's missing a chapter :(

Hi! Sorry I left you hanging with Something Else Telling for, like, two years. I’m always so happy to hear that people are still enjoying reading my fics :) I definitely do plan on finishing it… eventually. I’ve been going through some pretty crazy life changes since I wrote Something Telling and its sequels (I live in a completely different country now, for example!) so I’ve had a lot less time for writing in general. And to be honest, I feel like such a different person than I was when I first started writing Something Telling (almost four years ago, which doesn’t seem that long, but go figure) that part of me just wants to rework the whole series from the beginning. So I guess I’ve been digging my heels in a little bit to put off having to figure out how to write in the voice I used for ST.

BUT! Receiving your gently prodding messages does make me feel much more encouraged to pick it back up again (also, reminds me that I never actually finished it lmao). Can’t promise anything in the immediate future, but I did at one point plan the whole fic out, and I do want to finish it and eventually edit the original Something Telling a bit, so… have hope. Moderate hope. Lmao. Cheers and happy holidays!

[guiltyhearts]

Zine Fic: Candy Roses

Pairing: Roxas/Namine (RokuNami)

Characters: Roxas, Namine, Original Characters (OCs), other KH characters mentioned

Summary: 

Twilight Town is just like any other charmingly small town in that it loves its gossip and it can't know when to quit. Especially when it comes to the love lives of its residents, old and new. They will tell you that they know what's really going down between their resident candyman Roxas and the new florist, Naminé. But there are some details that are not meant for even the sneakiest and hungriest of gossips. The most patient and romanitcally-inclined among the gossips know that they only need to wait for Roxas and Naminé to prove them right.

Or, the story of how two introverted business owners fell in love while living in a quirky town that can't mind its own business.

A/N: This was written for @rokunamizine, a nonprofit zine for RokuNami in predominantly AU settings. That was what partly inspired me to write a story where Twilight Town is just a little bit weirder and quirkier, like the town in ‘Gilmore Girls’, Stars Hollow. But with none of the pop-culture references. I’m so excited to be sharing my story here! I want to thank the moderators of the zine for giving me the opportunity to write for their zine, and to meet other writers and artists who produced just some of the best pieces!

A special thanks to @somniumars​ for creating this special banner for the fic!

The zine store is currently still open for leftover sales, so if you’re interested do check it out!

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

Twilight Town was the sort of town that saw beauty in the absurdly weird and liked to celebrate its history. It was also a town that loved gossip, especially about the love lives of its citizens. The love story of the previous owners of the flower and candy shops was particularly juicy: featuring betrayal, public screaming matches, and failing businesses.

So when news broke that a young woman would be moving into town and opening a flower shop in late March, people were quick to speculate, especially because there was so little information about her. All the townspeople knew definitively was her name: Naminé.

Amongst the speculation was a not-so-innocent observation that she and the owner of the current candy and ice-cream shop, Roxas, would meet and strike up a doomed romance, if history was any indication. Much to his frustration, Roxas was forced to hear people “inconspicuously” discuss it within his vicinity.

(“I am asking you politely to please move aside for customers if you aren’t here to buy anything.” “You told us to buzz off!”)

Naminé’s arrival coincided with the annual Starlight Festival, so no one paid her much attention. Although it was her first day and she was exhausted from moving, the festive air piqued her interest, and she ventured out later that night, following the star patterns on the sidewalk to the town square. At the center, the gazebo adorned with luminous fairy lights beckoned. Meanwhile, Roxas closed shop at 6pm to join his friends. Even if the romantic overtones of the festival couldn’t be ignored, there was always food, and there was no denying how picturesque the town square looked that night.

Halfway through the evening, the town’s mayor stood at the gazebo to address the crowd by retelling the legend of the lovers who found each other in the darkest of nights.

“Under the cover of night, they ran away to find each other. Though hope seemed lost, the stars shone brightly, lighting a path for them to follow until it brought them here.” The mayor pointed to the ground where he stood. “At this spot, the lovers were united at last.”

From across the gazebo, their eyes met. They did not gaze at each other for long, but it was still enough. Even as they spent the rest of the night with other people, they periodically glanced at each other, but did not catch the other person’s eye again.

For two weeks after the festival, the townsfolk could only talk about the new florist and how mysterious she seemed. The most curious and bored of these citizens deliberated over any occasion that Naminé and Roxas could have had contact together. Even when the consensus was that they were certainly in love by now, there was no straight story as to how it started.

The fact is, their first proper meeting was at a party. Having befriended Naminé almost right away, Olette, who worked in the town hall, invited her newest friend to meet her oldest friends. This included Roxas, who could rival Naminé as the quietest person in the room. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, the two quietest people soon found each other.

After cursory introductions were made, Naminé said, “I wanted to see you.”

“Really?” asked Roxas. He couldn’t help but smile as Naminé’s cheeks blushed a rosy pink.

“What I mean is, I wanted to thank you in person.” At Roxas’s confusion, she elaborated, “For the business owners’ welcome package.”  

“Oh. It wasn’t much. I hope you liked the candy.”

“I did. I had to pace myself so I wouldn't eat it all, especially the candied apricots.”

Roxas brightened. “You liked those?”

“I did!” And she meant it.

It was his turn to blush. “Thanks. I’m really glad you do. But if anything, I should be thanking you for your gift. The flower’s really nice, and the thank-you note too.” Your handwriting is as cute as your art, he wanted to add. “I’ve been trying to take good care of it.”

“Pansies just need regular watering, and they do better away from direct sunlight in the afternoon,” Naminé explained. “But if you need any help, you can come to me.” For more than plant care advice, I hope.

And just like that, Roxas and Naminé were on their way to becoming friends.

At that same town square later that spring, the two of them swapped childhood stories. They marveled at the ease with which they could talk about themselves and share so much of their lives.

(“You really wanted to be a bee?!” “I had just learnt about them, I thought that was the only way I could understand—stop laughing!”)

While walking his dog on an August afternoon, Roxas shared his early missteps in running his own business right after college.

(“So what did you do with the extra five pounds of salt you ‘accidentally’ ordered?” “Put those fingers down. What didn’t go into the sea-salt ice cream went into the salt taffy. For two months...”)

Naminé shared her own college stories with gentle encouragement (and a little ice cream bribery) while drying off from the annual Water Gun Fight during the first September weekend.

(“And that’s the one and only time I ever went to a rave.” “You still design tattoos for free though, right?”)

By October, they were good friends, maybe even best friends. But somehow not a couple. Some of the sharpest and most gossipy eyes among the townsfolk were quick to latch onto moments where they were seen in public together as undeniable proof that they were deeply in love and could not be kept apart. he more skeptical folks were just as quick to point out that they could simply be friends who shared a close platonic bond.

But even the most observant of starry-eyed gossips can miss some details. Like how, late one night in early November, Roxas and Naminé drove to a grassy hill that overlooked the town in all its dimly lit glory. The sky was unusually clear and so the stars were especially bright. It was the perfect night to stargaze, to feel immersed in this cosmic wonder with the person next to you. As if moved by the stars themselves, they faced each other at the same time and leaned forward. They could still see stars under their closed eyes as their lips met. Her soft breaths mingled with his and the heat of his cheeks on her cool fingers proved equally enchanting. In the space between their lips they whispered a quiet desire for the night to not end here. They hoped it was only the beginning.

One day in the first week of February, the local diner was abuzz when Roxas and Naminé walked in together wearing matching red scarves! Matching! Red! Scarves!

So what if they were not perfectly identical? Two people of opposite genders were together, wearing matching clothing! They had to be dating! It took considerable patience from Roxas to not snap at the other diners, and even Naminé was visibly bothered but said nothing. Had she known the scarves would be such a big deal to the townsfolk, she might have risked the terrible cold and put hers away beforehand.

(But when she remembered an earlier moment, when she brushed stray snowflakes off Roxas’s thicker scarf first, and how Roxas followed by pulling her closer to his face with her own scarf, she couldn’t really regret it. When she tried the same thing later at his doorstep, his dopey grin told her he had no regrets of his own.)

But that was all the town had—speculation and gossip. There was no undeniable proof after all until early March at the town’s annual Pick-a-Nic Basket Auction.

Always hosted at the town square, participants would put together a picnic basket that would be up for auction. The basket-makers would also be available to spend time with the person who won if they so desired. While this was not mandatory, it had become so commonplace that it was all but accepted as a way for couples, established and prospective, to make public displays. The town’s favorite secret couple provided their own baskets from their businesses, both going for high bids. They would not bid on each other’s baskets, lest they get the rumor mill running. It did not go unnoticed that Naminé arrived with Olette instead of Roxas. Meanwhile, it was suspicious that Roxas neither raised his hand nor his voice over Naminé’s picnic basket, even when the town’s deputy sheriff and local pain in the rear, Seifer, placed a bid.

Then a basket strapped to a red skateboard was on the docket, courtesy of Hayner, the manager of the town’s skateboard shop.

“Also, the winner gets skateboarding lessons from me and Roxas!” he announced.

The bidding started at $10, but it was not long before bids started coming in, mainly from young women seizing on the chance to get Roxas’s company at last. It was down to two women, Selphie and Rikku, who kept upping each other’s bids. When the bid reached $60, that seemed to be it. The auctioneer, Old-Man McCartney, raised his gavel to close the bid…

“$100!” a voice cried out, shaky but loud. Every head turned, agog to see quiet, meek Naminé standing straight and determined. This included Roxas, who stood awestruck on the other side of the gazebo.

“$101!” one of the girls shouted to no avail.

“$150!” Naminé cried immediately, almost frantically.

“150 going once, going twice…” Old-Man McCartney banged his gavel on the podium. “Sold!”

Naminé kept her head down as she collected the basket-skateboard combo and made her way out of the crowd amidst the (gleefully gosippy) whispers.

“Wow, I didn’t know Naminé wanted skateboarding lessons that much,” Hayner said.

Roxas silently followed after her where she stood alone in an alleyway by a café. Even as they stood together, they didn’t exchange a word. Instead, Roxas took the basket-skateboard from Naminé and let her lead them further into the alley.

“I thought we agreed we weren’t going to bid on each other’s baskets,” said Roxas, breaking the silence.  

“We did. But I didn’t know about this,” Naminé rebutted.

“It was kind of last minute,” Roxas admitted abashedly. When Naminé turned away, he reached out to gently tilt her face up to look into her eyes, searching for answers.

“I know that it wouldn’t have meant anything to you, but something about seeing someone else think they could be with you when I’m right here.” Naminé muttered. “I don’t want to hide anymore.”

This would have been an opportunity to point out that Naminé was in fact hiding, but Roxas didn’t take it.

“Twilight Town is so weird sometimes, and I love it for that,” Naminé went on. “I love that they don’t hide it. So why should I hide that you’re with me?”

“I love being with you. You know that.” Roxas smiled. “I just don’t like that the town cares about this so much.”

“Do you think we’ve given them something to talk about?” she asked.

“More than enough to last a lifetime,” he grumbled half-heartedly. “Maybe it won’t matter if we go public.”

They weren’t entirely wrong. Tongues wagged when people saw Roxas run after Naminé into an alley (the pearl-clutchers clutched in horror). Naminé’s stunt at the Pick-a-Nic Basket Auction was the talk of the town for days. But just as quickly, people would move on to the Next Big Thing. In time, the couple felt more comfortable with public displays of affection that didn’t have onlookers and gawkers.

(To the town’s credit, they understood that Roxas and Naminé’s relationship was none of their business, and it was easier to ignore the duo's PDA once the gossipers realized they were a boringly happy couple.)

Whether a secret or a public affair, the couple would still share themselves with each other. That never changed. Before they knew it, it was time for the Starlight Festival once more. This also marked one year since Naminé moved into town as the new florist. It would show later that evening, as floral wreaths and garlands hung off the gazebo’s pillars, and flower crowns and laurels were up for sale to mark the occasion.

This was not the first event the florist and her candyman beau attended as a couple, and it would (happily) not be the last. Naminé and Roxas spent half the evening together selling his newest ice cream flavors: lavender rosemary, and rose. When they were completely sold out, the couple joined the celebration together, among friends old and new.

They stood in the center of the festival-goers gathered around the gazebo for the mayor’s annual speech, which once again consisted of a retelling of the legend of the star-crossed lovers that found the town together.

“…The stars showed them the way. They moved the lovers to safety, to sanctuary, to each other!”

Arm in arm, Roxas and Naminé faced each other. There was no need to speak tonight. They’d already found their way.

[doorrobloxstuff]

Untitled but yea more Seekgure [Human! Seek x Human! Figure]

But what if they were human1!1!1!1? (Atleast before they became entities dunno throwing ideas at the wall)

Also warning, a tad bit spicy. I mean it’s literally washing its hair so it has to be in the B A T H. No, I’m not showing anything.

Eheheh nonbinary hotel staff

———————————————————

“Ugh, can you believe all do this? The guests in room 32 are so disrespectful to our staff.”

The bitter matri de felt its lover’s hands caress its hair. Slow and methodically brushing the suds deep into its scalp.

Its partner chuckled quietly.

“Oh dear, you have no idea. Earlier today, some parents keep allowed their muddy little children to run around the library and destroyed

“My point exactly!” It hissed, its face growing red. “-After all, •••••• is respectful of books…There’s NO valid excuse for why they can’t keep their OWN rugrats or even THEMSELVES UNDER CONTROL!” it crossed its arms.

The partner sadly smiled and carefully guided its hand unto its cheek. “Your making yourself angry again..”

“It’s hard not to be mad nowadays..They treat us like shi-!” A kiss was planted on its cheek that made it shiver pleasantly.

It stayed silent, the hate in its chest creeping away back into the shadowy corner of its chest and the warm happy butterflies returned once more.

“Still mad?~” It purred, though there was a tiny hint of worry in its tone that the other didn’t seem to pick up on.

“Mmm.. I don’t know, perhaps some more kisses shall suffice?~”

Its blind companion mischievously smiled before wrapping its long arms around its neck and the latter placed promptly a hand on its cheek.

“Oh yes, I’d hate to give you an improper dosage.~”

The two exchanged flurries of kisses, hands intertwined and faces flushed as they spoke quiet tender words to the other and sweet surrender burnt holes in their chests.

Too bad it couldn't last.

The Soap-covered person suddenly released a small shriek of pain that startled its partner.

"••••••! Are you okay?!?"

"Ff...Fff..gahh..H-H-Hold on..”

The blind partner’s heart sank as it heard the sound of a flask being opened.

“••••••..please tell me you didn’t mix the laudanum with alcohol again..”

“It..numbs..the pain..Dear.”

The Blind partner shrank little into its shirt collar and stepped away from its partner

“Argh..Dont..Don’t look at me like that! You’ll thank me when we’re all immortal!THEY ALL WILL!” The sighted partner’s breathing was labored and heavy. It shook in place like a leaf before releasing a pained grunt and sinking into the bubbles. It reached for a nearby towel and pressed its face into it.

Trying its best not to dryheave or cry.

Both partners stayed silent for awhile. Both unsure of whether to speak or what to say to the other.

…

“Let me see your arm.” ••••••• murmured.

•••• reluctantly listened and moved closer to edge of the bath. Carefully, it’s partner reached over, and slowly made its way to its upper arm. As it moved its hand down to feel its wrist, all around it could feel all around large dark tendrils rooted deep in its flesh. It had long since claimed its shoulder and was encroaching upon its partner’s neck. It upon recognizing its advancement and •••••• immediately recoiled.

“Oh god..oh god •••• its..it’s so much more then your wrist now.”

“It’ll recede.”

“It wasn’t like this before!”

“Just give it a moment..”

Both went silent again.

Finally, a sound that could only be described as a mixture between moving water and scratching could be heard as the tendrils thrashed for a few seconds before reeling downwards back towards the partners’s wrist.

“See..?”

••••• stayed silent. Emotions stewing in its chest like bad mead.

“Please don’t drink..It makes it worse.” ••••• Murmured at last.

“..It takes the edge off..”

“It’s killing you faster. So please..atleast in earnest moderation..”

“..I’ll try.”

“Thank you.”

The two continued to remain silent

•••• felt a piece itself sink as the aggression dropped itself once more.

Why did it say that..?

And it felt even worse as its partner reached over and pressed itself close again that warmth felt very much undeserved.

“…Do you remember the lake.. and the cabin..?” It asked with hesitancy.

“Oh dear god, how much of that flask did you have?”

“A swig.”

“The entire thing. Alright then.”

“•••••• my beloved, I solemnly swear I am anything but drunk.”

“Alright, stand up then.”

“Gladly!” •••• leaned forward to get up. Only to hear the sound of its spine audibly cracking.

“Ah.”

“Help.”

Gently, it’s partner pulled it out of the bathtub and set it on its feet. ••••

Quietly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around itself.

“..Looks like I’m not the only one who needs a cane.”

“I’d look good in a cane, okay? And see? I am ever so clearly not drunk.” •••• reached for a bathrobe. “That display there? ‘Tis was the arthritis.”

“Mm, alright then you wayward drunk. Time for bed.” •••••• carefully picked up its partner and carried it gently to their shared bed.

And nothing else even remotely eventful occurred. (Yet)

————————————————————————————————————————

So first concept for an au. Have some Seekgure and some fucked up mobile formatting.

Pray for figure it is THIS ClOSE 👌. But yea a bit Rocky for them. Next Time Fig will take it a bit more seriously.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Another Long-Running Panel Show Friday (January 27, 2023)

The Last Leg: Really good start to the new season. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed this show when it was off, until this episode. The Last Leg has its times when the quality dips, and maybe a bit more in recent years than in older ones, but they always seem to start new seasons strong, like they rejuvenated their enthusiasm while they were away and are excited to be back. I’m only slightly ashamed to admit that I laughed out loud at Alex Brooker’s opening joke, about his own hands being at least as good as a walrus’s fins for… I’m trying to think of what euphemism I want to use here, and all I can think of is how I recently heard Steve Hall call it “getting at myself”, which was such a strikingly strange term that I don’t think I’ll be able to call it anything else anymore. Anyway, the quite juvenile jokes about that made me laugh, and then they pretty much kept the energy from there. It was a loose episode, with Adam Hills letting things go off script a little more than usual before bringing it back, and it was fun all the way through.

Great guests, too. Obviously, Richard Ayoade is always funny on panel shows. He paired very well with Lucy Beaumont – that’s a contrast in styles I hadn’t realized would work so well until I saw it. Also, every time I see Lucy Beaumont I remember how perfect she is. Her whole schtick revolving around being comically earnest, literally leaning forward and not quite following but trying really hard, is consistently engaging. She had Adam just about breaking down a couple of times, it was great.

Having Angela Rayner on is a little dicey; politicians using comedy shows to whitewash their image is not great, even if it’s a politician who seems generally all right. But at this point, compared to everything else all the politicians are doing, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition going on a comedy show to answer silly questions and play some silly games is not the main thing plaguing the system. She came across quite well, anyway.

WILTY: Another good episode this week. I thought Jayde Adams was the highlight, in her WILTY debut. She took over many parts, particularly the mystery guest round, and it was funny every time. I just wish she’d gotten a better card of her own, she could have done more with it. Ellie Simmonds was very entertaining too, seemed to be genuinely vaguely baffled but having a good time.

Not such a good episode for me – I went 3-2 in the guessing, and only finished with a winning record due to the completely free point I got from Lee Mack’s obvious lie at the end. But I did enjoy that, a bit of old school WILTY with making Lee Mack defend something absolutely ludicrous. There’s an argument, and maybe a good argument, that that bit is getting rather old by now. I still find it funny every time, though.

QI: This was a good one too, mostly. I thought Tom Allen was the star of this one, he fits in really well on shows like this. I was hoping for more from Cariad Lloyd, as she has a history of really shining on QI (particularly some of her interactions with Sandi Toksvig), but she was relatively quiet this time (or just didn’t make the edit much). She had a couple of good stories, though. Everyone did. And Sandi seemed even more likeable than usual this week.

I like Jamie MacDonald too, I know him only a little bit from The Now Show. He has the same name as my favourite character on my favourite TV show ever (Jamie MacDonald from The Thick of It), so I mostly just remember him for that, but on this episode I think he said enough funny stuff so I’ll start remembering him for that instead.

The News Quiz: I skipped this one again this week. It had Geoff Norcott on again, and even though the rest of the lineup looked fine, I just can’t be bothered that right now. That’s not normally the case – I’ve listened to and watched plenty of episodes of The News Quiz and other things with Geoff Norcott, and just been mildly to moderately annoyed with him. But at this moment I have such low tolerance for that shit. I do “listen to the other side”, every day, on my CBC news podcasts. I do my civic duty of being informed about what all sides of the issues are saying. Don’t need to hear it in my comedy as well, when I’m just trying to be entertained.

Next week, however, looks great.

That’s an absolutely stellar QI lineup, across the board. Jo Brand never disappoints on WILTY. I’ve just checked and am surprised to see Joe Wilkinson’s never been on WILTY before, but I’m glad they’re fixing that now. I always enjoy when people who have particularly odd TV personas go on that show and we try to guess what’s real about them.

And Frankie Boyle, obviously, is a rare, unexpected treat on The News Quiz. Susie McCabe’s also always great, and pairs well with Frankie when she’s on New World Order. I guess that lineup is to discuss the potential independence referendum, since Ashley Storrie and Alex Massie are also Scottish. So that’ll be fun. An exciting episode of Andy Zaltzman And The Scots.

[f0point5]

a few thoughts on bridgerton:

it feels like every season they deviate even more from the plot of the books which like granted the books aren't fine literature but at least they are coherent and have character development ??????

also i think luke newton is SO attractive genuinely the most attractive out of all the Bridgerton leads but how do they manage to make him look SO UGLY in the series. it's actually criminal because irl he's so lovely looking but colin is NOT IT

also do NOT even get me started on the fact that racism magically didn't exist in the first season but then it was like oops no just kidding yes it does exist!! idk i feel like it's quite a complex topic and it was handled so WEIRDLY????? like picking and choosing when it applied and when it didn't

ALSO Penelope was lowkey such an asshole that I can't even root for her. like yes i support women's wrongs but tell me why she outed the fact that her cousin was pregnant AND that eloise could have potentially been compromised. imo she's such a prick and everyone's acting like colin had to "make it up" to her like i'm sorry what for ?? for saying he wouldn't court his friend? like i get that it's more complicated because of all of the feelings involved but also... how on earth is he the one that's supposed to be apologising

Yeah Luke Newton is a good looking guy idk why this series just can’t seem to get a handle on his look? Even over 4 episodes they keep changing his hair probably because they couldn’t find a style that worked.

Wait where was the racism?

I think they had a smart idea of how to get over the race issue but I think the problem was based it on the Queen Charlotte urban myth which means it hadn’t even been a full two generations of integration. For attitudes to really change as much as Bridgerton needs for the story to work you’re looking at a century of integrated society and even then you would still kind of have old attitudes lingering. I know they showed the lingering racism in queen Charlotte but then they’re so concerned with showing the main characters to be morally upstanding that they can’t even mention the race thing and it comes across as sort of disingenuous to me? But on the other hand it’s a light romance show so I’m happy to suspend my disbelief to watch it. I think it was a clever idea of how to achieve the multicultural cast that they wanted. Is it undercooked? Yeah but they can’t cook it without making a political/alternative history show.

I don’t get what Colin even did that was so wrong. He said, to a group of friends, that he is not interested in courting his little sister’s friend. Is this news to anyone? Look, I get in the context of Penelope’s standing in society it was a bit of a dig but honestly, it wasn’t that big of a dig. He didn’t give any derogatory reasoning. Not trying to be funny but they weren’t even best friends or anything I just think that whole remark is blown out of proportion. He didn’t see her as a prospect and that’s valid.

Penelope being LW and spending all her time just bitching about people is so icky to me. Imagine being so desperate for attention that you exploit the private lives of those around you for an audience. If someone did that in a crowd of people we would think they were an asshole, but because she does it to public acclaim it’s somehow acceptable? Sorry but no. It’s the same thing with Dan and Gossip Girl…he was a complete psychopath but oh he made a book out of it and people liked it so it’s fine. No it’s not fine. It’s not fine just because you’re moderately talented with how you do it.

I do enjoy the show and I was honestly ready to put my issues with Penelope aside but this season is not it for me