#but also because how they would argue all the time they argue now

[fl3shm4id3n]

ᴛᴏxɪᴄ

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐬. 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐀𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐮𝐭𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐀 𝐥𝐨𝐭.

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ᴛʜᴀɴᴏꜱ (ᴄʜᴏɪ ꜱᴇᴜɴɢ-ʜʏᴜɴ) x ꜰᴇᴍ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ꜱᴏɴɢ: ᴄᴀɴɴᴏɴꜱ - ꜰɪʀᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ ( ꜱʟᴏᴡᴇᴅ + ʀᴇᴠᴇʀʙ)

Tw: Squid Game 2 SPOILERS, Smut, toxic relationship, yearning? Reader is a love addict, talks about substances/drug abuse, talks about death, blood, swearing, bathroom/public sex, aggressive make out, lip biting, biting in general, fingering, titty grabbing, reader has the implant, kinda based on the bathroom scene from s1, some grammar errors.

A/N: Guess who's back :P

Masterlist (none yet)

ʙᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏ ᴀɴʏ ꜰᴜʀᴛʜᴇʀ, ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ɴꜱꜰᴡ/ꜱᴍᴜᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ, ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪꜱʜ ᴛᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ʀᴇᴀᴅ, ꜱᴋᴇᴅᴀᴅᴅʟᴇ, ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪꜱʜ ᴛᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴄᴇᴇᴅ, ᴛʜᴇɴ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ʀɪꜱᴋ.

You were in love. But not just any love, this kind of love was harmful. Yet you were still willing to put up with it. Your boyfriend at the time, Thanos, he was your everything. Your prince charming. At least you thought. He made you feel safe and loved all the same time. Not to mention how he'd spoil you with gifts and everything that you asked for. He made you feel like a princess. His princess. You were so in love that you even got a small tattoo on your ribcage near your breast. He loved it, every time you and him would be intimate, he'd either lick or kiss the tattoo. Loving his name on your skin. He loved you, he'd claim he'd kill for you. That made you believe him.

Until the problems began to happen. His rap career got his head, not to mention the substances he abuses. At first, it wasn't a big deal. But things got worse. Day and night he always popped a pill or two. It was almost like he needed to take those pills, in order to live. It bothered you. What did was him flirting with other girls, right in front of you at the night clubs he'd get invited to. He'd say it wasn't serious, it was just for show and other bullshit excuse. You hated it, often being cast a side and ignored because of stupid career.

Then, came the fights. You'd argue almost about everything. Even about the stupidest things that didn't matter. Every minute of every hour and everyday. You'd both fight. The final straw was he called you all sorts of things. From leech to gold digger. How could you be any of those things? You were with him when he was barely starting his rapper career. You were the one working all those hours plus over time while he was barely getting any views on his channel. If anything, he was the leech and the gold digger. You had enough of him. If you didn't leave now, who knows what else he'd do next. So broke up with him on the spot and left his apartment. He tried apologizing and begged you to come back, but you didn't. Not after that. Since break up, he'd call, text you, show up at your apartment, sending you flowers, and even as far as to go to your work place and beg to come back, making a scene. But you didn't, as much as you wanted to go back with him. You didn't. It hurt him, just as much as it hurt you.

You missed him, a lot. As much as you wanted to deny it. You still loved Thanos. You'd cry for him, wanting to take him back, but you didn't. You easily could, but you didn't. Did you enjoy him trying to win you back? You couldn't explain it. You missed him dearly. That yearning had made you basically isolate yourself from your friends. You barely left your apartment, only leaving when it was necessary, for work or to get groceries and such. You also noticed how Thanos had stop calling, texting, sending you flowers and all that. You'd check his Instagram, to see what he was up to. You noticed how the pictures he's posted of the two of you were no longer up. It hurt you in some type of way. Did he find someone else? Was he still thinking of you? Some days you'd just check your DMs, hoping that he'd send you a massage, in which you'd just ignore or leave on seen. You didn't understand why. Why did you miss him so much. He had finally left you alone, but you missed his attention. You missed him. Why?

You don't understand how you ended up here. In some place, wearing a green tracksuit with the number '013' and white vans. You were told that you were simply going to play six games in six days. It should've been easy right? While you looked around the place, seen the many beds and people that were here. Was this some kind of game show? You then saw someone you've never see in a while. You recognized that purple hair anywhere. It was the only turf of purple in a sea of either black or brown hair. It was him, Thanos. The one that you yearned for. As much as you wanted to run to him, hug and kiss him. Tell him that you missed him. You didn't, you kept your distance. Hoping he wouldn't see you.

Then you heard the horn, followed by a group of men in pink suits and masks. Where they a part of the game? Everyone began to talk amongst each other. "I would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to you all." The man with the square mask spoke. "Over the next six days. You will participate in six different games. Those who win all six games, will receive a handsome cash prize." He explained. Then someone chimed in. "Excuse me." It was woman with brown hair and was pretty tall. "If we're just playing games here, then why you'd basically kidnap us?" She asked. Good question. "How can we trust you now?" She added. "My apologies. Please understand it was a necessary step taken to maintain the strict confidentiality of these games." The masked man explained.

"Is that right? Then what's the deal with the masks?" Another woman asked. That got people talking. "That's a secret too, I'm guessing?" She finished. "Yeah. Why are you wearing those? Where the hell are we? Is this some kind of illegal casino, huh?" A man asked. "If this is were one of those, you'd see the dealers faces!" Yet another woman added. Making even more people talk. "To ensure the fairness and confidentiality of the games, it is our policy not to disclose the faces and identities of our staff to participants. We ask for your understanding." The mask man explained calmly.

You then saw how someone with long hair and highlights lifted the green sweater. "Did you people strip me when you shoved me into this?" She asked. "And where the hell are my shoes?" You heard Thanos say. Making you turn to look at him, you only saw the back of his head. "God damn it, that pair was fucking limited edition. They don't even make those anymore. What the hell? How you gonna fix it if they got ruined?" He said, very loud and upset. That was so him, worried about his stuff, especially if they were expensive. You wondered if that was why he was in debt, always buying the most expensive things, just to keep up life style. Not only that, but the stuff he's also give to you too. Which you still have, you don't even know why.

"Look at this. The size is all wrong and I hate the colors you're using. Can I have the outfit you guys are wearing instead? The pink is cute as hell." The previous girl said, hoping they'd say yes. "My apologies, but I'm afraid that's not possible. To ensure the games run smoothly, you must wear your uniforms." The mask man said. "Uh, what about my phone." A guy that seemed pretty young approached towards the platform. "You took my phone and my wallet. What the hell's going on? When'll we get those?" He pointed out. Now that he's mentioned it, you dug into both your pant and hoodie pockets. Nothing. You didn't have your phone or wallet. Damn it! Those were important.

"Your belongings are safe and being stored securely. We will return them to you once the games have ended." The masked man responded. "Can you please get my phone returned at least? I need to see how my crypto is doing. Are you guys gonna compensate me if can't trade my coins?" The young man asked. "We will return your phone once the games have ended." The masked man responded. He had an answer to almost every question asked. "I need to know if the market's going down. Do you know how much money I've invested?" The young man argued. "Player 333, Lee Myung-gi." The masked man said, then used a remote to change the huge television. Making everyone look at the tv.

It showed a video of the same game that you played with a sketchy businessman. But it was of player 333 playing the game and getting slapped. "Age 30, former owner of the YouTube channel, MG Coin. Promoted Dalmatian, a new cryptocurrency, leading his subscribers to lose a combined 15.2 billion won. He even shut down his channel and disappeared. Currently wanted for fraud and violating multiple communication and investment laws. Total debt: 1.8 billion won." The masked man said. Damn, that must have sucked getting exposed like that, but what surprised you the most was how the masked guy knew all those details without missing a beat. Did these people investage everyone here? Including you?

Another video showed, same situation but different player. It was the girl that had complained about the outfits. "196, Kang Min-na. Total debt: 45 million." The man said. Then the video changed again, same thing. But this time, it was the tall woman that had ask the first question. "120, Choi Hyun-ju. Total debt: 330 million." Then the video changed to Thanos. Sporting a green shirt, that stupid cross and vape in hand. You recognized that shirt, some nights you'd sleep in that shirt, at his apartment. He still wore it, why wouldn't he? It's his shirt. "230, Choi Su-bong, 1.19 billion." The man said, making your eyes widen. 1.19 billion!? Damn! It probably wasn't a lot but damn! You thought, then it went on, calling out more names and total numbers. The final one, got people talking even more, making everyone want to look at the last guy.

But that guy lash out in his defense. Then the mask man went on how everyone was in debt and blah blah blah. You didn't really pay attention. Your focus was mainly at Thanos, but why? You thought you got over him, but I guess you didn't. He went on and on, more boring instructions. As if they were important. Then you had to form in line to sign a consent form. While in line, you kept your head down, not wanting to come across Thanos. You stood right behind player 333. You waited patiently. Then it was his turn to sign, after he read the form and signed, it was your turn next. You read the form, reading the rules. They were easy and simple, you then signed your name on the line. You were busy that you didn't notice Thanos approach player 333.

As you turned to leave, you saw Thanos and some guy comforting the guy. Shit, all you did was freeze and stay still. Watching what was happing, until the masked man told you to get going. Once Thanos stepped away, you then stepped out of the line and tried to move quickly pass them. But unfortunately, you bumped Thanos. "Sorry." You said, trying to get away, but he grabbed your arm and pulled you to him to see who bumped into him.. Now you were face to face with him, his eyes widen. "Y/n?!" He said, shocked to see you here. He then pulled you away from prying eyes, towards the beds. "What are you doing here?!" He asked you, still holding onto your arm. You freed yourself from his grip. "What do you think? I here to get money to pay my debts. And get back the money that you owe me." You explained to him. God, you missed him so much. You felt your heart skip and your legs turn to jell-O.

"Why didn't you come to me!? I could've helped you!" He said, almost angry. You rolled your eyes. "And be more in debt? C'mon." You said. "Babe, I couldn't figured something out. Look, I got scam by that little shit over there. It wasn't completely my fault." Thanos called you that old name. 'Babe'. You loved it. "Thanos, you are 1.19 billion in debt." You reminded him, making Thanos roll his eyes in annoyance. "I know, but that's not important." He added. You sighed, but you had an idea. "How about this, once we get out. We'll return everything or sell the things that you got me and put that money towards your debt." You said, but Thanos quickly responded. "Hell no. That's stuff is for you and only you. Plus, you're in debt too, baby." He said. 'Baby'. Gods, that had an effect on you. He wasn't wrong, but you were more worried about him than yourself. "I know our relationship didn't end on a good note, but let me help you." You said, both of you just stared at one another for a brief moment. Not knowing what else to say.

"You are helping me by being here, baby." Thanos said, sweetly. You couldn't help but blush like a fool. Thanos noticed that, he couldn't help but smirk. He got close to you, wrapping his arms around your waist. Pulling you close to his body. "Don't worry baby. I got you." He said, while holding you. You missed this, it was wrong for you to miss this, but you loved it.

Ever since the first game, you've been stressing. You thought you were simply going to play kids games, but you didn't expect for the losers to fucking die. You were scared, scared that you'd get shot. During the vote, you voted to leave, you wanted to leave. Dying over money wasn't worth it. But the X was out numbered by O. So you'll have to stay and play another life threatening game. Then came the Six Legs game. Thanos had chosen you to play with him and this underling. Followed by two others, a boy who seemed to just be a nervous wreck with no back bone and a girl who knew what she wanted. The whole time, you were nervous, the sight of blood and sound of gunshots had made you develop some kind of anxiety a matter of two days. You hated it. When it was your teams turn, luckily, you managed to pull through and win. Thank the gods you won.

Once you were escorted back to the lobby like room. You felt like throwing up. It made you sick seen those people get shot in cold blood, as if they were nothing. You hated it. Specially since you still had blood on you from the previous game. You asked a guard if you could go to the bath room. Which he allowed you to.

In the bathroom, you looked at yourself in the mirror. You went from looking put together and calm, to drained and terrified as well as dried blood on your face. You hated this, you wanted to go home, but people wanted to play another game. They wanted more people to die for more money. Those people were sick. They made you sick. But Thanos was one of those people, was he the exception? You didn't know anymore. You turned on the water and splashed your face with it. Rubbing your eyes and cheeks, trying to get rid of the dried blood from your skin. You honestly wish you could shower, get this filth washed off you. But you couldn't. They probably didn't have showers and if they didn't, they wouldn't let you shower.

After you cleaned your face, you stepped into the stall. Wanting some alone time. Then the door opened, you assumed it was another girl who needed the bathroom. You turn to see who it, but instead of another girl. It was Thanos. "Thanos!?" You said, shocked that was allowed in the woman's bathroom. "What's up babygirl." He said, approaching you. With his signature rapper swagger. "How'd you get in here?" You asked, now he was standing face to face. "I got my ways." He said, with his overly confident smirk. "I missed you." He said, while caressing your slightly damp cheek. "You saw me not that long ago." You reminded him, while enjoying his touch. "You know what I mean, I missed you. Like really miss you baby." He said, almost seductively. All you could do was just stare at his eyes. It was quiet, you had forgotten what you were even doing.

"And, Ima show you how much I missed you." He claimed, just as he claimed his words. He claimed your lips. You stood there, shocked that he was kissing you. As if you were a drug, a drug he had been craving for the longest time. You didn't even think twice, you began to kiss him back. Desperately, trying to get a taste of him. You missed him, a lot. You didn't care anymore. You wanted him, you needed him. He was your drug. The kiss got sloppier and messy. Thanos then pushed you into the stall, closing the door behind him. Then he pushed you against the wall, almost pinning you, kissing you even more. You held onto him, desperately clawing at his back. You felt him gently biting your bottom lip. Making you gasp and moan.

That got him even more excited. He then shoved his hands down your pants, going straight down your panties. He already felt how wet you were by simply kissing. He rubbed your clit with both his middle and ring finger. Making you flinch and moaned against his lips. "Thanos!" You moaned, he had barely touched you, and you were already breathless. This brought back a flash back when you two were together back then. He knew how to work his magic on you. After your rubbing your clit a few more times. He processed to slip his fingers inside you. Feeling you up completely. Your back arched, as you moaned even louder. You didn't care if the guard outside heard you. All your worries had gone away. Your focus was on Thanos and Thanos only.

Thanos was impatient, he needed you and wanted you now. You wined when he pulled his hand away. You wanted him to continue working his fingers on you. "Wha-" You said, breathlessly. "Strip." He simply said, as he proceeded unzip his green jacket. You too began to take off your jacket, then shirt, followed by your bra. You simply threw your clothes onto the floor without a care. You took off your shoes, quickly taking off your pants and panties together. Thanos simply took off his jacket and shirt, his abs made your mouth water. He then sat down, on the toilet seat. "C'mre." He said, as he pulled his pants and boxers enough to pull his cock out. You went over and got on his lap.

He wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed you again. You kissed him back, wrapping your arms around his neck. You were too distracted by the kiss, that you didn't notice him pushing his cock inside you. But as soon as you felt your tightness stretch, you let out a shriek of pleasure, throwing your head back. This gave Thanos the opportunity to kiss your neck and processed to thrust upwards, making you bury your face onto his shoulders. Digging your nails into his shoulder blades and back. Making him hiss, he loved it. He loved this, he missed this, he missed you. This brought back memories, when you and him would go into the bathroom at the bar and have sex in one of the stall. It would excite him, specially when people would come in and out.

Soon after, you began to bounce as he thrusted upwards for more friction. "Awe! Fuck!" You moaned, weakly. As you held onto him, tightly. Meanwhile, Thanos was groaning and biting your neck. Savagely. His moved down from your neck to your chest, with one hand he grabbed your breast, squeezing and just grabbing. Followed by him sucking on your on your neglected breast. Both your bodied began to coat with sweat and began to burn up your skin. It was like fire beneath your skin. You loved getting burned. As his speed increased, your bouncing sort of weakened. He was making you weak by the way he was thrusting, harsh and aggressive. Was he on drugs? Most likely.

Thanos pulled away from your nipple and faced you, kissing you hard on the lips again. He knew how much you loved kissing his lips. You've have an orgasm just by kissing him. As your tongues swirled and mixed both your saliva, he moved his hand from your breast down to your clit. Giving you hard and fast rubs. Making your body jolt, you felt a pleasurable electric shock wave through your body. You felt so close to cumming. He probably was too. "I'm-" you weren't able to finish, he just knew. His thrusts became harsher, at this he was pounding into you. Making your skin slap harshly against his. You placed your hand onto the wall, trying to hold onto something other than him. "Thanos!" You shirked at this point, eyes screwed tightly. Gripping onto him and holding onto the wall for support.

Without a warning, you came around his cock. You felt as your body was getting electrocuted by pure pleasure. You haven't felt this pleasure in months after the breakup. Sure, you'd pleasure yourself and all that, but having sex with Thanos was a whole different thing. After you came, so did he. Thanos held you tightly as he pumped you pull. He let out a loud growl like moan. You both went quiet, except. All that could be heard was you both trying to catch your breath and heavy breathing. You looked at him, his head was leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed. Sweat rolling down his brow and his cheeks were red.

All you could do was look at him, admiring him. He was still the same. Even in your current situation of playing this games. Not knowing if you'll live or die. He was still his foolish self or maybe it was the pills he took. "I love you." You couldn't help but say. It was true, even if he didn't believe it or not. You loved him. Even after everything he put you through, you loved him. He slowly opened his and looked at you, still catching his breath. He then moved your hair, which was stuck to your cheek, placing it behind your ear. "I love you too.'' He said, weakly. You believed him, you always did when he claimed to love you.

You smiled, almost shyly like the first time you both claimed your love to one another. You leaned over and kissed him softly. He responded, kissing you back softly. After a bit, he pulled away, to look at you. Again, he moved your hair behind your ear, just like he did prier. "I need you to do something for me." He said, making your ears perk. "What is it?" You asked, waiting for him to continue. "When we vote, I want you to vote for O." He said, making you look at him in confusion. "Why?" You asked. "Think about it. The more money there is, the more we'll get. Together, me and you can pay our debts and not worry about anything. We'll be living like a king and queen." He said, as he smirked. "And baby, you're the queen of my heart." He said, confidently. Making you roll your eyes and giggle.

"I'm serious." He said, quickly. "Just one more game, then we'll go back home. And start a new life. Together." He said. With a pleading look. As much as you wanted to think more about it, you didn't. You were blinded by love and his claim of living a life with no worries. "Alright, one more game." You said in response. Thanos smiled and gave you another kiss. You kissed him back quickly. The kiss was sweet, but quickly turned into a heated one. You then felt him thrusting upwards again, making you moan against his lips. You were still a bit exhausted and sore from earlier, but you didn't mind a second round.

ɴᴇxᴛ ᴘᴀʀᴛ

[bewareofthenewphannie]

sigh....please don't kill me for this

AO3 Phandom Stats - Top or Bottom?

As many of you may have noticed there has been a shift in the depiction of Dan and Phil in fanfiction over the past few months from previously predominantly Dan being written as the bottom to now largely Phil bottoming. This post aims to put that trend into numbers and visualise it in a few overly convoluted diagrams below the cut.

Does any of this matter? Absolutely not.

Is it interesting? Oh boy, it sure is!

Disclaimer: This is an analysis of the fanfiction writing and tagging trends within the Phandom. It's at most tangentially related to the Real People Dan and Phil and is not meant to spark any type of discourse. I am doing this as an avid fanfic reader and with the utmost respect and appreciation for the authors of these fics, so I don't want to see any negativity directed towards them. Above all this is meant to be fun and interesting.

And as always - don't like it, don't read it <3

Note on accessibility: linked here is a doc with all the numbers shown in the screenshots of this post. Inspired by emma's stats I will be putting the cell range in the ID - if there's a better way to do this, please lmk!!

Methodology

To get the numbers shown here I filtered the works in the Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF) AO3 tag by "date updated" from the Jan 1st to Dec 31st of each year and by the following tags:

Bottom Dan Howell

Bottom Phil Lester

Top Dan Howell

Top Phil Lester

Short excurse on AO3 tags for those unaware:

The tags I chose are canonical tags, which means other tags that mean the same thing but are for example spelled differently are linked to this tag by tag wranglers and appear when you search for the canonical tag (see example below).

Additionally, the "bottom x" tags are metatags for the power bottom tags, which means fics tagged with "power bottom x" also appear when you filter works for these tags.

It's important to note that not every fic where one of them tops or bottoms is tagged as such. That means these stats very specifically look at the author's choice to tag fics with these tags and not the overall amount of fics where one of them tops or bottoms. However, I would argue it's fair to assume that it's at least somewhat reflective of the general writing trends within the Phandom.

For simplicity's sake I will refer to these tags as e.g. "Bottom!Phil" (b!p) going forward.

Stats 2013 - 2024

Here you can see how many fics were tagged with each tag in the respective year and the amount of bottom!dan and bottom!phil fics relative to the total amount of fanfic written in the same time span.

As expected, up until 2023 the split was about 2 b!d to 1 b!p fic (precise numbers: 71% to 29%; see pie chart above).

In 2018 we can see a peak in both in the number of phanfics written and the relative amount of fics tagged as bottom!dan.

Starting in 2023 (more on that below!) this flips and in 2024 the ratio of b!d to b!p fics was 1 to 4 (precise numbers: 81% to 19%; see pie chart above).

Furthermore, making up 4,62% of the total amount of phanfics written in 2024, the bottom!phil tag is relatively speaking twice as popular now as the bottom!dan tag ever was.

Sidenote: You can see that generally the amount of fics tagged with b!d and t!p, as well as b!p and t!d correspond to each other for obvious reasons (they're usually fucking each other). This year however there's 16 fics more tagged with bottom!phil than top!dan, which shows that there's been a very specific interest in writing and tagging bottom!phil in the last year.

Here you can see the total amount of phanfics written by year because I already collected the data, so I might as well put it here:

Stats 11/2023 - 12/2024

Now I want to take a closer look at the past few months post hiatus.

You can see that there's been a steady increase in the total amount of fics written per month!

That's incredibly cool!! (Love to all the wonderful writers out there <33)

Before we get into the actual stats, it's important to note that we're working with very low numbers here, so don't be fooled by overinterpreting percentages in the first few months depicted and look at the actual numbers! In the diagram below I excluded September and October 2023 because there simply wasn't enough data to produce useable results.

Contrary to what I expected, the increase in fics tagged with bottom!phil does not coincide with gamingmas 2023 (pour bot hem and top bunk kind of guy), nor phil's birthday live stream (topped by kakuna) but only really starts in June 24 and spikes in August for reasons I'm not fully sure about.

If I had to pin it on one thing it'd be the precious baby angel picture, which was posted in mid August.

Much more likely is though that this was simply a dynamic that built over months and had a wide array of reasons mentioned above and could very well be a self-reinforcing dynamic of more and more people looking for that tag and also writing for it.

If anyone has more insight on this, please share your thoughts :]

On that note, I'm finally done yapping, I hope this was at least mildly interesting!

[utilitycaster]

I am curious if you think the campaign wrap up will perhaps address some of the campaign shortcomings or challenges the cast faced in trying to land this campaign narratively, especially in comparison to previous campaigns? Not that they would disparage the whole campaign - but like a little “yeah this didn’t work as well as we wanted at times?” 

It’s odd because I find myself weirdly optimistic about CR as a whole despite this campaign’s possible lackluster ending, so I guess I’m hoping the campaign wrap up acknowledges that this campaign didn’t always play to their strengths in hopes that their next long form venture does more, idk.

I don't know if it will but. that's precisely the tenor any question I send will have: I don't think the fundamental concept is the issue - hell, I don't even think killing the gods is actually a problem if you appropriately set up a scenario where killing the gods has a motivation other than "mortals were mean to me in their name" [thing that happens irl all the time in a world with zero proof of divinity, in my religiously observant ideologically agnostic and skeptical opinion] or "I have issues with my parents I never worked towards so I've projected this onto The Ultimate Parents instead of like. being fucking normal." But it needed a lot more scaffolding at the VERY least in the prep for this campaign, and actually, to be blunt, if you want to make this a balanced issue you needed to seed this concept through prior campaigns in a meaningful way. There's a reason pretty much everyone who defends this campaign as Extremely Good, Actually is either doing some form of wildly revisionist history of the fandom and the past campaigns that's demonstrably false if you were like. there; or else they started with C3 and decided they were an expert despite being of below-average literacy and deeply below average personality and have to resort to such miserable efforts as "arguing that canon isn't real" and "posting an out of context Le Guin quote over and over in the hopes we won't notice they're actually 511 mice in a trenchcoat who can't actually read". So yeah I hope Matt is like this was an ambitious project and I'd have done many things differently.

I do wonder what's next for CR, because as I mentioned, it feels like the cast is stronger in shorter form; that even the other longform shows are moving to shorter form right now; and that WBN and C3 kind of show the limits/failings of longform. I hope they do another longform campaign at some point in the future, but it might make sense to take an extended break and play in the space for a while. They only took about 4 months between campaigns for the past two and maybe it would be good to take longer and focus on Daggerheart, Candela, and EXU for much of the year and if they do longform wait 8-10 months, especially with the comparatively extensive touring schedule this year.

I also hasten to add, and I mentioned this briefly in talking about CRPGs, but I think there's a Third Campaign Dip that's not inevitable (NADDPod didn't really have it; TAZ switches systems enough that it's not an issue) but definitely hit here, that doesn't apply to a fourth one. Like, for CRPGs (girl who's played Veilguard twice and gotten through the first day of Disco Elysium voice) it feels like the first run is following what seems most fun to you and then the second is playing around with other choices that maybe aren't as appealing just to see what happens, and then for the third and future runs you kind of know the full lay of the land and what you'll like while still allowing for a range of choices. For class-based TTRPGs, the first is the self-insert/thing that's fairly comfortable and easy/character you've dreamed of; the second is what you do now that you know how this works; and then the third can be...an overextension, shall we say. I think after that you figure out, again, the bounds of your comfort zone, how much you can stretch it, and what you don't like, you're in a much more consistent footing.

[jinxsleftmiddlefinger]

timebomb highschool au

(part 1)

(p2 here)(read on ao3)

description: timebomb highschool au pretty much sums it up lol. there’s also canon storylines (vander death, vi conflict etc.) but translated into a modern context 👍👍

warnings: none

Jinx was not the most popular girl at Zaun High; but she was one of the most notorious. She was a cheerleader, pretty, always wore a crop top, so her higher ranking on the high school social hierarchy was understandable. Her affinity for pranks just had to be a slight quirk.

The vandalism on the school walls, toilets exploding in the girls bathroom, glitter bombs in classrooms, the blue haired delinquent did it all. Her name was constantly being called on the intercom, and yet she never got expelled. 

Today was another one of those days. As Jinx walked down the hallway, happy to be yet again skipping class for a visit to her lovely principal’s office.

Except, today, there was something different in the office. A new boy. 

Jinx walked into the office, tossing her singular braid over her shoulder. 

“Hey, Sevika,” She leaned against the receptionists desk. “Here for another visit.” 

“Don’t call me by my first name at school, Jinx. We’ve talked about this.” Sevika deadpanned

“Oh, come on!” Jinx pouted. “We have family connections, Sev. Don’t I get special privileges?”

“We are not family, Jinx.”

“But, like, technically…”

The receptionist raised an unamused eyebrow.

Jinx was stopped from arguing with the gloomy woman by the boy standing over by the door to the office, holding a black backpack in his hands and looking nervous.

Haven’t seen him before, She considered. Pretty cute.

He shifted forward shyly, clearing his throat. He was trying to get Sevika’s attention.

Jinx studied his dark skin and muscly arms and smirked. Really cute.

“Hello!” She smacked her arm down on the table. “You new here? No worries, I have close connections with the faculty! I’ll get ya fixed right up!” She winked at him.

“Uh, yeah.” He cleared his throat for the second time. “It’s my first day.” 

Sevika looked up from her computer screen. “Name?”

“Ekko.”

“Mhm.”

Jinx watched the interaction curiously. She wondered how this boy, Ekko, was going to fit into Zaun High. She wondered if she should warn him to go back where he came from, because this school is nothing but trouble. 

“And I’m Jinx!” She added to the conversation.

She watched him consider the slight strangeness of her name, her odd demeanour. “Nice to meet you.” He nodded.

“Jinx!” A voice called from the back. 

“That’s my cue.” She skipped back to where Silco’s voice had come from. 

He sighed when she walked into the room and plopped herself down on a chair, rubbing his temples with a tired look on his face. “Seriously? Water bucket above the door again?” 

She blinks innocently at him.

“Honestly, Jinx, if you’re going to keep pulling these ridiculous, immature pranks, at least get creative.”

Having your adoptive father as the principal of your school was pretty awesome. Especially for someone like Jinx. When people asked her how she stayed in business, she always just winked and giggled. Telling people that the reason you never really got in trouble was because you were family with the principal wasn’t exactly a non consequential thing.

“I’ll try better next time.” Jinx promises, yawning into her hand. “What do you think about five water buckets rigged above the door?”

Silco shook his head, standing from his office chair. He walked to the other side of the desk and looked down at his adoptive daughter. “If you do it, please do it to Mr. Willams. I cannot stand that man.” 

She laughed and stood up, hugging him tight. “Thanks, dad. You’re the best principal! I can leave now, right?”

“Not so fast.” 

She cursed internally. She would never say it out loud, but she was desperate to get outside and help that cute Ekko boy with his schedule. New students were rare at Zaun High, and Jinx would really benefit from being the one to show him the ropes of the school.

“You have something to tell me.” Silco raised his left eyebrow. “I can tell, Jinx.”

She huffs. How can he always tell?

“Vi texted. She said she wants to…talk.” Jinx fiddles with the long braid in her hair.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want.” Silco’s voice softens. “You don’t owe her anything, Jinx.”

“I-I know. But I think, maybe, I should just try, right? I mean, I know I’m a lot different now, but maybe we can still…be like we were. Almost.”

Jinx hates that his expression has something akin to pity in it.

“If you’re sure.” His expression is something she can’t quite place.

Jinx walks out of the room before he can say anything more.

Vi and Jinx used to be as close as sisters could get, until…Well, until Vander, their adoptive father, died. The night he was in the accident, Jinx had a fight with him. That’s why he left that night. When he died, Vi had always blamed Jinx for it.

After that, Silco had found Jinx, ran away from home and sobbing her little heart out. He had saved her from going into foster care.

On paper, Vi was in his custody too. But Vi was never there, and Jinx never really saw her again. Then she turned 18, and she left to go to college. 

Jinx knew now she was living the picture perfect life, with her new girlfriend Caitlyn and her stupid college parties and hang outs and whatever. She hated Caitlyn, the stupid rich girl that she was, not to mention she had attended Piltover High School. The Vi Jinx had known would never date a girl like her.

But all that was…before. Jinx hated thinking about it now. She had moved on. 

Even if she had cried tears of joy over Vi’s text message. 

The blue haired girl is interrupted from her dwelling by a familiar throat clearing. She looks up to see Ekko, holding a piece of paper and being right in her way.

“Hello!” She smiles her toothiest grin.

“You, uh, bumped into me.” He says.

She ignores his statement and goes right up to him, looking over his shoulder at his schedule. “Need help?”

Jinx can tell he’s considering, not quite sure what to think of this strange girl yet. He’s also not quite sure where any of these classrooms are.

“Yeah, how do I get here?” Ekko points at the class he’s currently supposed to be at, and Jinx grins once again, impossibly wider.

“You’re in luck, buster!” She wraps an arm around his shoulder. “That’s exactly where I’m heading. Come on, we can sit together.”

[icarusredwings]

Ride

Sabretooth x feline mutant reader

You can choose whichever type of feline. Non gendered, your choice on how to interpret.

1/2

Victor wants Cubs. Even if you can't biologically have any.

Cw: NSFW, Licking, CNC, breeding kink, oral fixation, fingering, riding, public sex(? On the mansion floor), Voyeurism (kinda) , implied trafficked/rescued reader, Victor is a big softy, scratching, a little too rough, cat behaviors, Hand holding (🤯)

Everything is great here, is a thought that crosses his mind quite often for the past few months. Dearest has even started allowing him in the bed now that Darling doesn't live here anymore. Not fully anyway, sometimes when he visits, Dearest and him argue, only to end up kissing and then Erik leaves, frustrated. It makes Dearest sad. Victor can smell it.

He's tried interfering, but he doesn't understand most times enough to try to decipher the issue. Either that or he got bored and took a nap.

"Snuggles! Where are you my big tiger?"

It was Dearest calling from the door, an unusual scent coming in with him.

With a hum, Victor rolls over, with the shake of his head he yawns, stretching. Naps here couldn't be more perfect.

"Oooh biiiiig stretch." His master says, stepping forwards to him with something- well... someone.. on a leash.

Out of instinct, he puffs up, Growling lowly at them.

"Hey- None of that now. This here is your new friend. I want you to behave and treat them accordingly. They're a good kitty, oh yes they are." Dearest says, reaching down to scratch your chin as you let out a joyful purr, ears perking forward.

He settles a bit, A sickly sweet smell coming from you, the kind that would drive a man crazy if they didn't have enough impulse. His nose twitches some as it sniffed, assessing your value to Dearest.

Tilting his head, he takes a step closer, only for you to come closer first, putting your nose close to his with a sway of your tail, also a little fluffed up.

You think it's cute how he takes two steps back and then puffs his chest. Still, you scare him though because he hisses at you. Immediately you hiss back, growling, only for Dearest to pull you away. "Now now, that's enough out of you two. I don't wanna hear any more hissing. Got it? Snugbug, you need to be a gentleman. You hear?" Crouching, he unclips your leash, taking it with him as the big orange cat in front of you nodded, but only slightly.

"You always do what your master tells you?" You ask him, letting him come close again, nose still twitching, starting to come around back, practically putting his nose into your behind. "No hello? My name is?"

Turning around you shift to sit down, tail curling around your body as it softly flicks. "You gonna answer me or not, kitty boy?"

He huffs a bit. "Dearest calls me Snuggles, but my name is Victor. And no.. Not all the time. Where did you come from? You smell like salt."

"Wow, way to woo somebody. And.. I suppose the same place he got you? Off a ship? In a cage? Picked out as a gift it seems.."

Victor laughs, again circling. You knew what he smelled. You know exactly what it was. I mean look at this guy, could you blame him? All big and muscular, a little belly on him to show the sufficient amount of prey, a big bed all to himself with dozens of toys, pillows and blankets.

It was clear. This cat's no stray tom.

"Ha! You think I came from a cage? How cute. No, cupcake, I came from the wild. Somewhere someone small and frail like you wouldn't even survive."

"Oh yeah? Don't look it." You look at his nest of comforts as he smirks.

"What? It's not my fault Dearest takes good care of me. And I bet he could take good care of you too. Maybe a couple cubs.." He purrs, coming around from behind you to whisper in your ear.

"I know you wanna. I can smell it. You filthy whore~" he mews.

Blushing, You look away, crossing your arms. "Wow, what kind of gentlemen are you? Didn't your master tell you to treat me nice? Mangy feral."

This seemed to only please him, rubbing his face against you before flopping onto his back, stretching out with a big yawn. "What? Like this? Fine by me, kitty cat, I love em when they run."

You roll your eyes, glancing only out of the sides of them as how well off he truly was. The scent gets stronger as he gently bats at your tail, attempting to initiate play. Or perhaps more.

"Well I'm not running anywhere." You mumble proudly putting your tail up as you trot over to the beds, beginning to sniff here, victor following like a puppy following a piece of meat.

The more you sniff, the more pleased he gets, purring loudly as you step onto the large bed, seeming to search around for something.

"I know you're lookin' for my fish bones in hopes there's meat scraps. I know you can smell it. But I promise Dearest is not like that. He feeds us quite well. And I could feed you quite well too."

"I can hunt my own food." You say, feeling a bit insulted that he even would assume otherwise.

"Hmm. Yeah right. I'd like to see that.." he mutters, taking a big lick of the crease, easily pushing aside the skin with the muscles of his thick tongue alone.

Gasping, you growl, "H-hey!" Your tail instinctively heads to the side, only making him purr again, smugly.

"I knew you wanted to. Bend over, babe." The big cat says, a paw coming up to your ass, pulling you back ever so slightly.

Your claws dig into the bed, looking back at him with your ears back, baring your teeth at him. "L-let go of me!" But your face is darker than before, the scent getting sweeter the more he's near you.

"Oooh, Come on, sugar. Let me make you my Queen~" the smirk is cocky, nails of the hand on you just barely running across your back, licking his lips as if eager to lick you clean.

Pouting, you glare, stating as if this were an absurd thing to say. "You can't call me Queen, I haven't had any kits, moron!"

"Not yet you haven't. That's why I said let me make you my Queen. You'll have my cubs and then you'll truly be a Queen. Mine. And we can raise our pack here. We can live safely and let the little rascals attack the runt."

Your eyes widen. "What?! What is wrong with you!? Why would I ever-"

There's some hissing as he takes his hand from you, sitting up all dignified as Darling can be seen dragging Logan across the floor, struggling with all the growls and swats.

"Come on! Charles said you need a bath! Aye! Waffles!! No scratching! Bad cat- man- thing!!" Darling scolded, presumingly trying to bring Logan to his doom. (The bath tub).

"He's runt. I won't let our cubs fight. I'd be a good alpha. And I'd take good care of you too."

He says, shifting to put their noses together again, a rumble coming out of his throat that sounded like a purr and a growl together.

Blushing more, you swallow, laying down, tucking your tail between your legs.

"Oh don't be scared, baby. I won't hurt cha. Not too much anyway." He coes, trying to pull you close again but you swat at him, gentle enough to still show respect but corrective enough to make a point that you weren't ready yet.

"H-how do I know you aren't lying?"

"Depends, what about." Victor comments, moving to lay beside you in the bed, beginning to lick at your ears, a sign of dominance and trying to show off that he would in fact be a good mate.

"Bout being my mate. What if I can't give you kits? Then you'll be mad at me. And what if you leave?" You close your eyes, letting him lick your face, feeling an intense case of safety wash over you. You whine, tightening your legs together. God you wanted it. But you were so used to being used. So used to guys like this saying they'd stay, and then leave.

"I guess if you don't take the first time, We'll just have to try twice as hard, huh~?" It's said in a teasing tone, the kind that makes you smile, burying your face into his fluffy mane.

"I don't know... all the guys i've dated have been dogs." You mutter, metaphorically.

Smirking, he brings a claw to your chin, lifting it up. "Meow." He purrs, deep from his chest.

It's at this moment you realize just how bright his eyes were, Deciding in this moment that you wanted to see them more. The darker your face gets seems to make him try to hold you more.

"You like em?" He asks, connecting your foreheads together with a toothy grin.

Swallowing, you nod. "..Do you like mine?"

Thinking for a moment, it was as if he was trying to put words together.

"Prettiest thangs i've ever saw."

Turning away, you roll your eyes, pushing his face away from yours with a giggle.

"You're just saying that..."

Shrugging, he lays on his back. "Yeah..."

Glancing at him you frown, worried he meant he only said it to try to get some tail.

"I ain't much good with words.. I rather show ya." He mutters, snaking an arm around your waist, tugging you against his chest with a smirk. Again you giggle, shaking your head softly, shoving your face up under his chin, embarrassed.

"You big oaf..."

The reflective gold plating of his collar with thick red double stitched nylon laying against your face. It makes you wonder if Dearest knew you couldn't have kits. It made you question why he was so eager to introduce you to Victor. Telling him to be a gentleman to you. Was he planning to sell your metaphorical cubs? He didn't seem like that kind of guy, especially how well loved and taken care of Victor was.

"Victor-"

"Mmmh~ I like when you say my name. Fuck, cant wait to make you scream it." The big cat purrs more, sniffing your head as his grip tightens, pleased to have you lay with him.

"H-heh.. what if.. what if your master wants to sell our kits?"

"What?? Dearest? Noo.. Darling, maybe, but I'll just eat him. I'd never let anyone take our cubs." He promises, taking a long lick up your cheek.

"Even if we have to go back to the forest. I'll make us a den. Ill hunt for you. Jimmy will probably help out with the cubs to. Get him his own mate. We can be one big pack. All of us." These words were recited as if he's thought about this for hours, as if this were a dream of his. To one day have a big pack and provide.

You grin, shifting to sit on his stomach, making his eyes widen, dilating with excitement.

"How big of a pack?" You ask, caressing his cheek as he purrs loudly, nuzzling your hand.

"Hmm." He starts thinking, his hands coming to your hips but you cut him off.

"Well.. wait.. what if.. what if I never have kits? Let's say.. hypothetically.. they fixed me before I was sold.. then what?"

"Fixed ya how sweetheart?" He asks, half lidded and staring at you with possibly the most adoration you've seen in a long time.

Swallowing, you move his hands off your waist, only for him to put them back, keeping his grip tighter.

"I-it means I can't have kits.... ever."

"Well then... I guess I'll just never stop trying then, huh? Whatta say about that?"

"I think six.. would be just right."

You say, giving a playful thinking face before smiling down at him, shifting your butt backwards to grind down his half erection, causing it to spring up.

His grip tightens more, nails digging into your skin. "Six?? As in.. an entire litter?"

"Will it make you mate with me 6 times?"

"Oh, sweetie.. Once were mates I'll fuck you until you beg me to stop.”

Your eyes widen, A grin so wide that all your teeth show, tail wagging, flickering back and forth before bapping him in the face with both palms, jumping out of the bed, running a couple feet away. “Gotta catch me first!”

“Aug- Hey! What happened to not runnin’ away!?” He rubs his nose a bit, rolling over.

“I thought you said you like when they run? So come catch me, Victor!” You say to him, making the mistake of trying to run away from him.

Within An instant he was right on your tail, the two of you chasing each other around the living room, pouncing and jumping, climbinging and scratching. Vic had even knocked over a priceless vase after you tried to slip under A table only for him to follow you- well. Attempted.

The wrestling that happened was all fun and games until you both were panting, growling, chirping, purring. You were so glad you found someone who could keep up, someone who would wrestle and rough house with you.

You liked it rough, for play, and sex.

Though sometimes he got too rough, eyes slitting with a large jump as he pounces from the back of the ripped up couch onto you, having A hearty and genuine laugh until you gasped.

“Ouch! Fowl play!” You say to him, snarling at him despite him hovering over you like he'd devour you any moment. You swat him back, scratching his cheek. He gives a flinch and a soft growl, licking the blood that dropped down as the wound healed.

“Woah. How did you…?”

Staring at with a crazed fangy smile, his eyes dilated again. “You little ones are always so frail. Wouldn't wanna hurt ya, but you're gonna get it now!” He roars, almost excited to have someone who dared hit him back. Even if by accident because of his prey drive.

His tongue licks the blood from your claw mark, softly kissing it once the blood was clean. He takes a deep whiff of the wound, purring. “You taste so good.”

Shoving his face away, you blush, Giving him an odd look. “And you're a weirdo! Now get off me!”

“Ah ah ah, frail. You said I got ta fuck ya 6 times if I caught ya. A deal is a deal. I caught you. Now spread. You've been teasing me with this for half an hour.” He growls, grabbing your waist and flipped you to your stomach.

“Hey! Easy with the manhandling!”

“Oh, trust me kitty, You're gonna be beggin’ for it once I'm done” The growl from deep In his throat vibrates his chest a way that makes you a little more terrified at the way he stared at you with grit teeth.

This is the moment you knew, you fucked up. You should have never ran from him.

You should have let him eat you out right there in the bed.

Though… It was never too late.

“Wait!” You say, pushing your legs together, putting your hands up to him with your claws out.

Rolling his eyes, he grumbles, leaning over to hover in front of your face. “I'm getting tired of waiting. You think those little thangs scare me?” He growls, purposely pushing his face against the nails, letting you scratch him.

“I think you picked the wrong home if you think you can scare me, Kit.” Oddly enough, it doesn't sound like a threat. If anything it sounds like a challenge. Almost encouraging you to try and fuck him up. Just Try. The idea seemed to interest him greatly.

“Oh, trust me, you'll regret that later.” You flash your fangs, bringing your foot up to run a claw down his side. He shivers a bit, smirking wider and kept you close. “But for now, Wouldn't you wanna do this where I want too?” You purr.

“Not really.” It's a statement that's flat, but honest.

“Victor!” You scold him, swatting at his chest.

“What?! Were not even allowed on the beds… Though…” He thinks, “There is a lot of beds. I'm sure we could ruin one..” It's said in tone of “Hopefully Dearest Won't miss it”

“How about.. Yours?” You purr, watching his eyes widen with excitement, Letting you slip out from under him and trot away, swaying your tail in the most teasing way you could possibly think of.

“Yeah, okay. Whatever you want, Frail.” He says, licking his teeth as he follows like a stray dog to a piece of ass. Which is exactly what this was, keeping up with your pace but just far enough back to watch your hips swing.

“You better get used to saying that.” You coe, Climbing into the bed, Deciding to sprawl out, arms above your head as you lay lazily.

For a moment, he only admires you, enjoying the image of you in his bed, ready for him to fuck you, but like I said- it's just a moment.

He was far too impatient not to climb in after you, pulling your legs up over his shoulders as you gasp in surprise.

“H-have you done this before?” You ask, but he's already working on you with that rough tongue of his. “Watch it! I-it's sensitive back there you know!” You warn, Hands already in his hair, fistfuls grabbing at whatever you could.

The licking Becomes slightly more gentle, carefully trying to soothe the muscles until they bend to his will. The sounds you make and how far your legs spread make him grin, pushing deeper, his nose pressing into the soaked sweet smelling skin.

“Ah fuck-” You say under your breath, putting your head back. He has to have done this before, the way he was licking you like he was starving. His hands come to your waist, nails gripping at them like someone would take away his feast. If you walked in right this second you would think a Lion had broken in and was sinking its claws into the fat behind of a delicious Zebra.

This is exactly what Darling saw, trying to find an escaped Waffles, who ran from him the moment the water was turned on in the bath.

His nose crinkles up into a sight of disgust. What the fuck was going on in his livingroom?

Fucking. That's what.

Whimpering, you take your arms from his neck, taking your legs off his shoulders, squeezing them closed again with an embarrassed and slightly ashamed blush.

Having his meal taken, Victor turns, Snarling with bared teeth and a loud hiss only to grab your abdomen, pulling you back to where you were with a quick jerk. Squealing, You gasp again, Mewling at the way he held your thighs up, burying his mane between them again.

With a repulsed groan, Darling quickly walks off, going up the steps two at a time. “Dear!? Did you get another cat?!” He asks, disappearing into the second story part of the mansion.

“W-what if he tells-”

Pulling off with a pop, he gives you a cocky grin, saliva connecting his canines. “Let him. Dearest told me to be a gentleman. And Darlings just mad he's wrapped around Dearest's finger so tight that he does everything he says. Poor fool.” He growls, Shoving his face back where it belonged.

Choking on your breath, You smile, giggling as your hand goes back to his hair, giving a good tug. “Don't speak so soon, you might just fall into the same category before you kn- Ooh Fuck!” You pull harder, now two hands grabbing at the blonde curls, the vibrating purr in his throat traveling up your spine.

“Shit-”

He gives you another long lick, spitting then sitting up, a thick line connecting for the first few seconds, breaking only when he licks his lips, staring proudly at his work, predatory.

“You sure have a potty mouth don'tcha?” He asks, savoring the taste of you on his tounge and the scent that encases you. It's making him drunk really, the way you shiver and preen whenever he barely touches you, how sweet you smell, as if every little inch of you was desperate for him. He once heard Dearest telling him a story about something called “Ambrosia wine” and wondered just for a second if that's what this felt like.

Something about the drink of gods. And he was more than okay with drinking you dry as long as this scent kept up.

Sitting up you wrap your arms around the big mane of his, kissing him and trying to pull him down on top of you. Kissing back, a hand comes to the back of your head, the other keeping him up right. The more you tug the more he chuckles into the kiss, finally pulling away with a laugh. “What are you doing, sweetheart?”

“What do you mean? You can't just lick me to death and then not fuck me. That's just down right dirty.” You whine, as he looks towards the stairs for a moment, gently pushing you away as he thought.

Glancing at his bed he thought it was a little flat. Maybe you'd like some more pillows and he knew where the good ones were.

“Stay here.” He mutters, only for you to grab his wrist, putting your hand in his, squeezing.

“You said you wouldn't leave after..” The kind of eyes you gave him made his eyes wanna glaze over and fuck you senseless, his chest getting hotter as he smiles. It's a gentlemanly smile, toothy, yes, but you could tell he was pleased at how badly you wanted him to stay and fuck you right now.

“Look, I ain't going anywhere. And I sure as hell am nowhere near done with you.” He even kisses your hand- well. He licks it but- same thing. “And besides. Itll be so hot to think about you playing with yourself waiting for me.”

You swallow a bit, unsure of what he meant by this until he shows you his hand, flashing his talons before retracting them. “They're still sharp, Even when small. And there ain't no sense in slicing up my mate. That's just stupid. Don'tcha think?”

Looking at the nails and how large his hands were. Blushing some, you look at him with hopeful eyes. “I-i could take it.”

He laughs the sort of way you do when a child says they can beat you up. Oh you were just too adorable, weren't you? Pulling you close, he nuzzles his face against yours, sighing.

“Oh Frail.. you're gonna make such a good mate. Sexy, fun, and funny. Now go on. Go fuck yourself on your fingers. Or a pillow if you'd like. I'll be back. Swear.”

“Two shakes of a lamb's tail?” You ask, shifting to settle back down in the bed, already diving your fingers between your legs, trying to replace the heat that his tongue once provided.

“I'll kill a lamb if that's what you want.” It's blunt, it's idiotic, but it's sweet. And you had a feeling this was going to be your entire relationship. Sweet with his words when he wanted. Salty every other time.

“What?” Your fingers stop at the thought, confused. “No, It's a….nevermind.”

“You sure?” He asks. “I know where to get one.”

“No, no…just- hurry up.” You say with a needy whine, already pushing an entire finger in, though- then again, that only added up to about half of one of his. So maybe it was a good thing he wouldn't let you fuck yourself with them.

And with that he's gone, running up the steps 3 at a time, like he was on a mission. Getting pillows for his mate, gettin pillows for my mate. It was kind of like a song in his head, so excited to finally have one. One that would stay here and Dearest would look at and go “Wow, Snuggles. What a fine mate you have there.” While he sat proudly next to you.

Muttering to himself in the hall, It started. “I gotta be a good mate. Not like my father. He was a terrible mate. No- I have to be better than that. I have to-” though he stops as he comes round Dearest's office.

Stopping in the doorway, he watches as the man writes something at his desk. Victor purrs and Dearest's head turns to smile at him.

“Hello. What are you up to?” He asks, only getting a “Puurrrrp” in response before scampering away.

Alright. Now which one of these pillows did he wanna destroy today? Sniffing at the rooms he pauses, backing up to see Logan stuffed under a bed, wet and scared.

“Darling is looking for you.” Victor says, teasing him.

“No help from you!” The wet Waffles growls, deepening himself to the wall.

“Sorry, Runt. If Dearest says it's bath time then you gotta get a bath.”

“Oh like when it was your turn and you scratched Darling so hard that even Chuck was upset with you?” It's said in the way ‘You're a fucking hypocrite’ is stated, through tightly grit teeth still spitting between them.

“Who's Chuck?” Victor asks, hopping onto the bed and grabbing about 3 pillows in his mouth, dragging them back down to the floor.

“The guy that feeds you, idiot… what are you doing?”

“Gettin nest stuff for my mate.” he says, much harder to understand through the pillows.

“What?? Nevermind…don't tell Darling I'm here.” Logan says the last bit quietly, truly behaving like a scaredy cat.

Spitting the pillows out, he tilts his head. “It's just water, little brother.” Might as well practice giving good advice if he was going to have kits soon right?

“And I can't swim..”

“It's a tub, not a lake. You just sit there and he puts that stinky shit on you and then you can get out. It's not like he's going to drown you. Dearest would kill him. And then I'd kill him.”

Putting the pillows back in his mouth, he starts to leave, thinking if he left you alone too long you wouldn't want to mate anymore.

Just as he was dragging them down the hall, Dearest called to him. “Snugbug, whatcha got there?”

Pausing to look at him, victor tried to meow through the feather in his mouth but it came out sounding all weird.

“Oh? Is that for your new friend?” He asks, stupidly. Of course it was for them. Patting his leg, Dearest called for him. “Pspsps. Here kitty. Come're.”

Looking at the steps, he could already hear your mews of desperation and the squelching of your fingers slamming into yourself. It made him twitch. He glances at Dearest too, not Wanting to seem disobedient but also wanted to come fuck you as fast as he possibly could.

“It'll only take a second.” He says, holding out something for him.

Dropping the pillows in the hall, He comes into the office, sitting at his feet as he rubs his back against his knee, purring and arching happily to be pet as he clips something onto his collar.

“There.” Dearest states, turning the collar around as Snuggles sat in front of him, a new red bow clipped to the front of the collar. Puffing his chest, Victor meows again and smirks.

“What a distinguished gentleman.” Dearest says, scratching his chin before patting him. “Run along now. Be nice to our guest.”

Just before Victor can leave to pick up his pillows, Erik comes around the corner, seemingly trying to find Waffles by the Metal of his collar only to trip over the lump of fluff in the middle of the hallway.

“Augh!! Damn cat! Dear!! That damn cat is trying to kill me!” He calls, like a tot throwing a fit.

Dearest only giggles, covering his mouth. “I don't think so, Darling.”

Erik groans as ‘Snuggles” takes the pillows, running down stairs before he could try to scold him.

He just hoped his mate would like his new collar…

[king-sil44]

I’m tweaking out a little. I went with friends to see the Sonic 3 movie on release day. Was really good ofc. Went to see it a second time the other day with my best friend. Sorta fixating on movie Sonic content. Might even watch the Knuckles show (y’know despite the unnecessary amount of Wade I’ve been hearing about) because he’s my favorite version of Knuckles in the Sonic franchise.

But that’s not what I’m here to yap about.

What I wanna know is why aren’t more people hopping on the Knuxadow ship train? Like???

I’m usually not a big shipper of Knuckles and Shadow, more of Sonadow girlie. But in the movie universe?? Please people imma need y’all to start dropping fanart and fanfics of them before I start having to make it myself.

LIKE THINK ABOUT IT.

(Spoiler Warnings btw)

- Both watch the same soap opera, La Ultima Passion I think it’s called (Knuckles is watching it in an episode of the Knuckles series I think and Shads is getting into it in the movie while hangin with Stone in the Crab). I could totally imagine them watching it together and arguing over the plot lines.

- Both ride motorcycles.

- You can’t tell me Knuckles ain’t the type to fall head over heels for someone who can EASILY kick his ass. “What a woman😳” type vibes but it’s after Shadow rocks his shit.

- IMAGINE Sonic and Tails. Cuz Knuckles is their big brother. Can y’all just imagine them lowkey bullying him? The whole immature nine miles? Making barfing noises if they catch Knuckles and Shadow flirting (in their own way), making very obnoxious kissing noises when Knuckles is gushing about how powerful and strong of a warrior Shadow is. THEY WOULD.

- Also Shadow, not being experienced with romance feelings or a crush, would have no IDEA what he’s feeling. I think his “OH” moment would be while watching other people interact. Be it in a movie/show, seeing Sonic and Amy interact, or Tom and Maddie. A whole “So this is love?” vibe.

- Someone theorized that in the hypothetical Knuckles & Shadow series that Keanu and Edris had talked about, they would be working together to locate all the Chaos Emeralds after they got lost at the end of the movie. CUE TWO SUPER POWERED ALIEN DUDES GOING ON A ROAD TRIP TOGETHER. And I think THAT is when they would become friends and start to form feelings for each other. Chat does this count as forced proximity?

- And we mustn’t forget Tom and Maddie. Tom doing the typical “I don’t want this dude dating my kid” routine (in his case tho it’s fair. Shadow did try to destroy earth and almost killed him) and Maddie would be supportive and I KNOW she would pull out the “leave the door open” line. Iykyk hehehehehe. They would both be really supportive of Knuckles having a crush and I feel like Shadow would try his best to be kind to them for Knuckles. He would be awkward.

- It’s also worth noting that if the whole Black Arms thing does happen in the cinematic universe and it ends like in the Shadow game with Shadow basically killing all of them, Knuckles and Shadow would BOTH be living the “I’m the last of my kind” lives. Not to mention both of their species have MESSY histories. Like we know the Echidnas were not perfect, otherwise they wouldn’t have been at war for so long. And we KNOW that the Dark Arms are all lunatics. Boyfriends can bond over their family drama.

THATS ALL. For now. 👹

And I know we probably gonna get Rouge in the franchise at some point and Knuxouge will be canon I’m sure but like… can a dude dream? And ask for more people to share this dream?

HEAR ME OUT PEOPLE-

PLEASE HEAR ME OUT!!

[irondad-defensesquad]

EDIT: now on AO3!

WARNING: anxiety attack.

DO NOT SHIP PETER AND TONY. P/ROSHIP DNI.

--

“Mr. Stark,” Peter says, breathless. “Mr. Stark, I don’t- I don’t feel so good—”

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”

“I don’t know, it just- hurts!”

“Where?”

“I don’t know! It hurts so much!!”

“Shit, hold on, hold on,” Tony helps the boy walk until they reach Med Bay. “Lie down for a bit, alright?”

Peter is heaving, eyes full of tears. Tony does not remember seeing him in so much pain and distress before. It doesn’t seem like Peter has been hiding an injury from patrol, either, he looks genuinely terrified.

“What’s the status, FRI?”

“Peter is experiencing a severe anxiety attack.”

Tony strives to push aside the familiarity of the words. “So… It’s muscle pain?”

“Affirmative. On the back right.”

“A-Am I dying?” Peter asks. “I-I don’t wanna die—”

“You’re not dying, kid—”

“Please, make it stop. Make it stop, Mr. Stark.”

Tony gulps, hoping not to break right now. “I won’t let anything happen to you, okay? I’ll fix this. I promise I will.”

He thinks of what to do next. Since this must be emotional, Tony decides not to give him medication for now. He’ll do something else to calm Peter down.

So, Tony grabs a chair to sit next to the kid, takes a few breaths before anything.

“Alright, kid, give me your hand.”

“O-Okay? What are you…”

Tony carefully holds the boy’s pale, trembling and sweaty hand.

“Do you feel my hand?” The man asks.

“Y-Yeah?”

“Focus on it, then.”

“Y-You… You’re tense, Mr. Stark. I-Is it because of-?”

“Don’t worry, kiddo. I’m gonna be fine. So are you, I promise. Let’s do this together, okay? We’re a team.”

“Okay,” Peter swallows.

Shyly, he squeezes Tony’s hand (perhaps mindful of his super strength). Tony is rubbing Peter’s with his thumb.

“Try to focus on me, kid. I’m right here. You’re safe,” the hero reassures him, repeating it a few times like a mantra.

“… Your hand is warm…”

“Yeah?”

“It’s nice…”

“Yeah, okay. Focus on that, then.”

Pause.

“Mr. Stark?”

“Hm?”

“How are you so soft?”

Tony snorts. “Am I?”

“Yeah… You’re always looking out for me… When you don’t have to…”

“Well, you’re a good kid. Everyone here loves you.”

“Really?” Peter sounds doubtful and it breaks Tony’s heart. “Y-You’re not just… saying that to be nice, right?”

“Why would I lie about that?”

“… I dunno.”

Tony’s smile drops a little, but he doesn’t let go of Peter’s hand.

The kid is contemplative, no longer holding on so tightly.

“Is this helping?” Tony wonders.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Does it still hurt?”

“I… I don’t think so.”

“Good. Great.”

Peter frowns. “F.R.I.D.A.Y. said it was… an anxiety attack, then?”

“Yes.”

“Weird, I never felt this kind of pain before…”

“But you have had anxiety attacks before?”

“Yeah, but... I got them handled, Mr. Stark.”

Tony sighs, not wanting to argue with the boy. He’s not angry, not at all. He’s just heartbroken to learn this.

“… I’m sorry I scared you, Mr. Stark.”

“What? No, you don’t have to apologize.”

“I freaked you out when this wasn’t even that big of a deal—”

“No, don’t say that. You were scared, rightfully so. Anxiety attacks are scary. It’s always encouraging to seek help when you feel like this. Besides, they’re not something we can control.”

Peter still looks guilty, but at the same time he looks for reassurance.

“Mr. Stark?”

“Yeah, kid?”

“Can I have a hug?”

“Of course.”

Peter sits on his own, all too ready for that hug. Tony too. The latter rocks the former side to side slightly, rubbing his back.

“You don’t have to be ashamed or afraid to come to me, okay?” Tony tells him.

“Okay, Mr. Stark.”

“You’re my kid, I care about you. A lot.” I love you. I love you.

“… Me too, Mr. Stark.”

Tony smiles, squeezing him a bit before letting go.

“Let’s get you to the couch. I’ll also get you some water.”

“Y-Yeah, that sounds good.”

Peter, likely drained from the episode, lays his head against Tony as they leave Med Bay, pretty much snuggling against him.

The man won’t say it, since it pains him to see Peter in such state… but darn, is he adorable.

[theangrycomet-art]

Sparks and Optics, What the heck do they have to do with an Alien Robot’s Health: A Minor Set of Headcannons on how Sparks work in TFA

A long winded and doodled brain worm that has been haunting yours truly because I got an ask about optic colors :)

This takes @paradimeart orbabies au/"how were more bots built without the allspark" headcannon/au into account so check that for some context on the exact details of Protorbs/Protomechs and the whole “Vector Sigma is now in charge of repopulating cybertron in place of the Allspark”

Alright, enough dilly dallying, let’s dive into this headcannon turned into a Chapter in a high school science textbook

First Off, Sparks

Each Cybertronian requires their spark to live, it powers their bodies and serves as a “soul”. Basic Transformers lore there.

Though with the whole Headmaster thing, there is evidence to argue that a transformer of any faction can theoretically survive being separated from their spark chamber for some time, as Bulkhead, Sentinel, and Starscream all were able to operate and function just as heads. I believe that there IS a time limit for this determined by how much power their heads can store. There is also the fact that some bots such as Blitzwing, Lugnut, and Wasp (and maybe Bumblebee- I don’t remember 100% for him) have more “modular “ frames that allow them to move their body parts independently when seperate d drone them. Both of which aspects are another interesting topic to explore but THAT’S a topic for a whole ‘nother post.

Transcript: The default color of a Cybertronian’s optic is determined on their spark. Pre-War, when customizations were more readily available, there were far more Optic Colors. This trend , however, has all but died in present day. End of Transcript.

As read on the tin, the optic color of a bot is shown to match the colors of the charged lining of the interior of a bot, blue for Autobots, red for Decepticons, purple in Wasp’s case. Given the the uniformity of eye colors in TFA, the inverse explanation I believe is that getting Optic Mods is considered a faux pas.

Between the strained resources from the war, Autobot propaganda, and the Decepticons’ limited access to such amenities, wasting materials on such minor modifications would not only seen as wasteful but highly suspicious. Those outliers with optic colors outside the typical hues of their faction likely face scrutiny from their peers on both sides.

But what is the difference between an autobots and a deceticon’s spark?

I believe that the critical difference is their ability to process and store energon.

Spark Anatomy

The spark is built into three major components, the shield dome, the outer core, and the inner core. Each is critical to maintaining a Cybertronian’s health and ensure their long lifetimes.

Transcript 1: a Healthy “Autobot-Typical” Spark. Shield Dome -serves as defense for the spark, EXTREMELY sensitive. Inner core: -extremely dense,innermost energon, made of multiple spheres contracted together, individual spheres CAN be removed. Outer core: -CRITICAL FOR SPARK STABILITY, keeps inner core safely in place.

Transcript 2: a Healthy “Decepticon-Typical” Spark. Shield Dome -serves as defense for the spark, EXTREMELY sensitive. Inner core: -larger energon deposits, tho (avg) the same amount, red tint indicates (here there are three upward facing arrows indicating “increased”) endurance. Outer Core: - more prone to breaking down but recovers quickly.

As shown above, the concentrations of energon that build up the inner cores of a transformers spark are significantly larger in Decepticons than in Autobots, allowing them to handle larger frames with ease, but also generate greater forces of strength without tiring themselves out as easily. It’s’ built for higher endurance and energy out body, which allows them to carry heavier duty tools (and weapons) naturally without easily exhausting themselves.

However, this comes at a cost, as the outer core, or this sparks “lining” is at a higher risk of warping or or worse damage.

Which leads us to OverCharged Sparks.

Overcharged Sparks

Overcharged sparks, or O.Sparks, have occurred for as long as the Allspark has been granting life, a minor glitch in the system. They are varied, but they’re all sparks who generate high maintenance cores with very limited outlets for the excess energy they generate. They come in two major types, depending on the source of their “overcharge”.

Transcript: Overcharged Sparks: Type 1. -sparks creation had too much energy output -> hence the name, excess charge cases the inner core to be over stimulated and lash out, bashing into the outer core, warping it, or worse tearing it.

Type 1 O.Sparks’ inner cores are permanently disrupted. They cannot stabilize nor can the individual energon spheres concentrate together on their own. There is very little treatment for grown frames with this condition, with protorbs/protomechs there is a limited window during which one can encourage the spark to concentrate its excess energy into developing an outlier. HOW one is supposed to go about this is completely unknown, and though Yoketron had some theoreys, his focus was more on making sure the protorbs/protomechs in his care survived into adulthood.

Due to this fact, there was an attempt made to force more outliers out of the latest batch of Protorbs by overstimulating their Sparks at creation. This experiment forced a generation of “experimental frames” to acquire with O.Sparks.

The experiment was a complete failure.

With 60% of the frames not surviving outside the proto-mold (so many little puddles of shiny melted baby goo to mop up), only half of the remaining batch not making it past the Protorb stage. Out of the surviving batch- a little more than a 200 grew to full maturity. With all that carnage, only 7% of the survivors developed any desirably outliers l.

The rest continue to suffer a lifetime of symptoms that few doctors could diagnose, much less treat with no gain. Most of these models aren’t expected to life so much as a fraction as the average expected lifespan for an autobot.

This was done without Yoketron’s knowledge, as he did not directly interact with the Vector Sigma when it was doing its thing and left the maintenance of VS to it’s keepers. But when he found exactly WHY so many of the children in his care kept suffering… let’s just say few have ever had the misfortune to see the cyber-ninja master terrifying fury. The already limited amount of outsiders allowed access to the “Daycare” went down to exactly 1 (and it certainly wasn’t Ultra Magnus or any of his lackeys) and the bots selected for “babysitting” were run over with a fine toothed comb.

After this, the Autobots focused on standardizing models. Two of the selected models were the smaller, more energy efficient, “scout” protoform model that Bumbleebee has and the sturdy, reliable truck model that Ratchet and Ironhide share.

Hence why there are so many younger bots share frame types.

The “Success” Stories

Despite the tragedy of the Council’s meddling, there are a few notable survivors success stories of the Outliers Experiment, some who even live with minimal symptoms and some desirable outliers.

Transcript: Notable Bots with O. Type 1 Sparks: Blurr. Blurr’s spark channeld his excess “charge” into his speed. Since his spark figured this out as a protomech & stableized some, his optics were able to settle closer to a healthy cyan.

Most well known amongst the Elite Guard would be Blurr, with his outlier being, of course, his speed. His spark used the excess charge to increase his processor efficiency and in turn encouraged charge release through movement. Holding still for extended periods of time is not an option, leading to limited and short recharges, which in turn lead to increase in irritability.

Transcript: Notable Bots with O. Type 1 Sparks: Bulkhead is an anomaly amongst the O!Sparks. His spark addressed his excess charge by enforcing his frame to a heavy duty build and "grow" until his frame could better handle it. He literally "broke the mold".

Bulkhead is the only bot with an O!Spark who's excess charge was directed to re-enforce his frame. According to his specs, he is supposed half his size (and a quarter of his weight). With this re-enforced frame, he is also the asymptomatic O!Spark.

Transcript 1: Moonracer is an atypical O!Spark. Her spark tuned her excess energy to a gravity manipulator. However her small frame still struggles to compensate for the remaining charge, resulting in her going into stasis at random.

Moonracer, like Blurr, proved to be an outlier with her built in Gravitic Adjuster. However, like Blurr, her spark does not allow Moonracer to stay still for long periods of time. Her charge builds up and leads to forced reboots to re-stabilize her energy levels. (ie if she stops moving for too long than she passes out) While not the worst of the potential side effects, it has impeded her desire to be a pilot.

Transcript 2: Most Cybertronians with O!Sparks don't adapt to the excess charge. These unlucky frames life spans are much shorter due to their sparks literally burning out their frame. Their lives can be extended through extensive modding and in some cases a complete frame change but their symptoms will always remain.

Most of the survivors of the Outlier experiments do not make it to 10,000. In fact, their lucky to make it to 3,000.

Typical Side Effects for Type 1 Overcharged Sparks

Eye Rings/cracked optics

poor vision

insomnia

higher core temperature

joint stripping (can be treated with regular oiling)

chronic pain

slow self-repair nanite response (can be supplemented)

Type 2 O!Sparks

Transcrpit: Type 2 is the most common type of O!Spark, and is typically the result of severe physical trauma, whether from combat, medical procedures, just plain bad luck.

These are the result of an Outer Spark Core failure, damaging the inner core and resulting in instability. As such, Type 2 O.Sparks are rarely found in Decepticons.

Most importantly, they are Treatable.

There are 3 sub types; 2-a, 2-b, and 2-c.

Type 2-a

Type 2-a O!Sparks are typically the result of poor mental health.

Long-term emotional distress can cause the Outer Spark Core to breakdown and weaken, causing instability within the Innermost Spark Core.

The most obvious symptom is a yellow tint to the Optics. The stronger the yellow tones, the worse state the Inner Core is.

The spark must repair itself on its own but in order for that to occur the patient must address the root problem. Treatment focuses on restoring the Outer Core and minimizing stimulation of the Inner Core.

Though uncommon, many veterans of the great war have develop some degree of Type 2-a O!Sparks.

Side Effects

memory purges

poor recharge cycles

lethargy

limited EM Field extentsion

chronic fatigue

Type 2-B

Type 2-B is the result of the Spark Chamber being damaged, BUT the spark core remained intact.

Research in Type 2 Overcharged Sparks began anew when the ailing Ultra Magnus's spark stability was under question.

In his case, his Innermost Energon was severely destabilized within the InnerCore, but the cores themselves remained intact. Until the cores are stabilized and the Innermost Energon stabilized, it is best to keep the patient in a medically induced coma.

Often times the circumstances of this kind of spark damage are in an unsalvageable frame, so there is not much research in long-term treatment, but First Aid believes it to be curable with the right treatment. How much of that assessment is First Aid being overly optimistic and under a lot of pressure is left to be decided

Side Effects

Optic Cracking (permanent)

lethargy

limited EM Field extentsion

chronic fatigue

chronic pain (though this could be due to the frame damage associated with such injuries)

Type 2-C, a recent discovery

Type 2-c O!Sparks have only recently been reclassified as a separate subset with the Autobots Aerial project.

Not much is known about them, and with only 2 known surviving holders of 2-c sparks, the data pool is extremely limited.

Type 2-c damage seems to be the result of the spark overextending itself to it's breaking point. It is believed to occur during medical procedures or extreme physical trauma, or in the Jettwins cases, both. The running theory is that the sparks are so desperate to live they open themselves up to any possibility of survival.

As a result, Type 2-c sparks can be artificially stimulated into developing outliers.

Optic notes: a second pupil ring developed in the optics after the Spark is manually/medically stabilized, geometric cracks are develop. A case of nearsightedness has developed in one of the subjects though this has easily corrected with a visor.

Symptoms: None. Then again 2-C overcharged sparks typically result in short but extremely painful deaths.

Medical Notes: The Jettwins have shown none of the typical symptoms associated with Overcharged Sparks outside their optic color changing and their inner core scattering. This requires more research, but Wheeljack's running theory is that the decpeticon coding taught their sparks outer core to repair itself, and in the process somehow stabilized the center core.

Waiting for comparisons with Blurr's Spark (one of the only "stabilized" overcharged sparks known) for comparison.

COMMISSIONS OPEN

[osohchoso]

Blood and Chains

Chapter Four- Little Flower

Choso x f!reader

Previous | Chapter Index | Chapter 5 coming soon!

Content: fluffy bonding time, mutual pining, protective Choso, mentions of death, a little bit of angst, multiple POV

Fridays have become a weekly tradition for you and Choso. Meeting at your home every Friday night to watch a movie, a different one each time. Comedy that would make you both laugh until your sides hurt, scary horror movies or a thrilling adventure. Sometimes the occasional romance movie that would bring big fat tears rolling down Choso’s cheek. He denies it, but you know he was crying. Every Friday you would order pizza from the same restaurant. The same pizza every time, and every Friday you would pick off the bell peppers and pile them high on top of Choso’s. He would insist that you order something different, but you never listen. Secretly, he enjoys the extra veggies you place on his. 

On Fridays you play games too. Sometimes simple board games like Life. Sometimes a random, complicated board game with too many rules that neither of you can recall halfway into. Once the two of you played Monopoly, which had the two of you arguing with each other until your faces were red. You got so mad when you landed on one of his spaces, owing him all your money, that you flipped the board and rage quit.  Plastic houses and paper money flying everywhere.

“You're such a sore loser!” he teased and pointed with a laugh, clearly not offended by your tantrum. You crossed your arms and pouted, immediately making him feel slightly guilty. He spent the rest of that night handfeeding you popcorn like your little servant so you wouldn't stay mad at him. Though you never were seriously mad.

You also shared your favorite video games with him. For someone so inept with technology, he caught on surprisingly fast. Beating your ass easily in Street Fighter and Super Smash Bros. It frustrates you to no end, but part of you watches in awe. You have never seen someone so skilled and strategic in those games. This man is perfect at everything. Everything except Mario Party. That is the one game you can always manage to beat him in. Seeing his cute pout after he inevitably loses makes victory taste so so sweet. 

And every Friday night, without fail, Choso would pass out on your couch. The first two times were a complete surprise, apologizing when he woke in the morning. Now he's accepted his sleepy fate. Making sure to pack pajamas and other nightly essentials. You never cared if he slept over, in fact, you enjoyed it. Getting to spend a few extra moments in the morning with him, listening to his rough sleepy voice and eating breakfast together on the couch before he left until the following week. 

Even on days that weren't Friday, you were constantly talking to each other. Texting back and forth all day long. Calling him when you had a rough day in class or just to tell him something funny. You even managed to teach him how to use Snapchat (something Yuji has been trying and failing to teach him). The man with such a serious face can somehow send the most absurd, silly faces. You screenshot each and every one, much to his embarrassment. The two of you continue to learn more and more about each other.

You know all his favorites. His favorite color is a deep purple. His favorite season is fall because he loves the sound of the crunchy leaves under his thick shoes. His favorite animal is a tiger, because it reminds him of his brother. He can never pick a favorite song, because he loves to explore new artists and genres. Each week he shares his top picks with you, and you secretly listen to them on repeat until he gives you his next list of songs. Though, through your bonding, you learned of several topics that seem off-limits. 

One. His job. You don’t know exactly what it is that he does. You assume it is something dangerous as his biceps bear countless scars. The few times you have asked about his career, he quickly shuts you down or changes the subject. You can’t imagine him being involved in any shady organizations with how truly kind he is, but you don't count it out yet. Not until you can get the truth out of him. So for now, you drop the topic of work until he can open up more. 

Two. Family. You have learned Choso has a very…complicated …family dynamic. When asked about his family, he completely avoided talking about his mother and father, you can only assume they are no longer in the picture. Something that you can understand greatly. You also learned his last name is Kamo. 

“Choso Kamo” you echoed back, and watched as he visibly cringed. 

“Please…just call me Choso,” he corrected softly. You agreed, never letting his last name leave your lips again. He joked around saying he was thinking of changing his last name to Itadori to match his brother. Part of you thinks he wasn't joking.

He mentioned that he is the oldest of many siblings, but he also doesn't say more than that. When he talked about how he only wanted to be a good brother, you could feel his sadness. Tears daring to flow from his waterline. So you stopped him, saving him from releasing the pain.

The only exception to the family rule is his little brother, Yuji. He loves Yuji. He would happily spend all day talking about his little brother if you let him. With how close he and the pink-haired boy are, you assumed they have been inseparable from the moment Yuji was born. This assumption makes the fact that Yuji only recently came into Choso’s life and that they are actually only half-siblings, even harder to believe. You can tell he's leaving out a lot of the details of their meeting, but you understand they only recently connected in the past four years. Now roommates in their shared apartment, Choso being the best big brother he can. You felt a spark of jealousy, you never experienced having siblings. 

You shared your own family issues with Choso. You rarely speak about your family to others, but he makes you feel so welcomed that you don't even hesitate to pour your heart out. You were your parent’s first and only child and sadly you can't recall any memories of them. Not long after your first birthday, they died together in a car crash. Thankfully, you weren't with them. After the tragedy, you were raised by your Aunt. She never married and never had any of her own children, she loved you like you were her own. Even though she filled the void in your parentless life, you still yearned for the life you could have had if your parents never got in the car that day. 

The year you started college, your aunt became ill. Then, barely a month after her diagnosis, she was gone. Leaving you more alone than you believed possible. She also left you with a large sum of inheritance. Money you were able to use to buy this tiny apartment in the city and help stay afloat while you study. Your little sanctuary is a constant reminder of your aunt’s love.

Three. Love. More specifically past relationships. Choso admitted he only has had one relationship in the past, and it ended very badly. You didn't press more than that after seeing the hurt in his eyes as he relives the memories. You also don't like talking about your love life. The one serious relationship you have been in resulted in broken trust and tears. There is an unspoken mutual understanding between you two that this is a touchy subject for both of you. 

The friendship between you and Choso continues to blossom as a month and a half passes. Leaving the chilly spring breeze behind and welcoming the first warm rays of sunshine. You can't believe how close you and Choso have become in this short time. Right now, you even feel like your bond has surpassed the level of your best friends Suki and Emi. Though you would never admit it to their faces. 

But is this it? Are you and Choso destined to stay just friends forever? The connection you have with him is so special, you wouldn't want to lose him altogether if you admitted your feelings for him. Would that make things awkward? Would it scare him away? Questions flood your head, though another part of you greedily wants more.

You check your phone, 5:10, he should be here soon. Glancing around the apartment, it looks spotless. Movie loaded up on the TV, pizza already ordered and on the way. Another fun Friday is about to unfold.

A soft knock on the door. He's been around so much now that you can tell it's him just by the way his knuckles rasp against the wood.

“Come in” you call in a sing-song voice. He enters a moment later, smile on his face as he sees you. He walks over and gives you a friendly hug, a warm Choso hug is the best kind there is. He breaks away and leans against the kitchen counter.

“So…how was your day?” He asks.

“Fine. Sara annoyed the crap out of me but that's nothing new” you chuckle, he laughs too. Sara is the only person who knows about your sacred Fridays with Choso. So every Friday, she makes a huge deal out of it and teases you until the end of the shift. 

Another knock at the door. Pizza is here. Choso moves back to the door to accept the food from the delivery person. Ever since the encounter with the man who grabbed your wrist, Choso makes a point to be the only one to answer the door when he's over. Even though you haven't seen that employee since. You're guessing he's fired now.

Choso returns with the pizza, and you begin the ritual of picking off the peppers and placing it on his. He rolls his eyes in fake annoyance.

“Have a movie picked out?” He asks as you both make your way to the couch. He sits down, taking the first bite of pizza, eyes glued on you as he waits for your response. 

“Yup…it's a classic. You're going to love it.” You sit next to him and press play. “Twilight” you smirk at him.

“That stupid vampire romance movie?” he groans in disappointment. You laugh as you nod your head enthusiastically. 

“Just trust me Choso, you're going to love it. It’s so cheesy now, it's more funny than anything.” You loved watching these movies as a teenager, they became kind of a comfort show to watch. Though now they are kinda cringy, but that makes you love them even more. You are excited to be able to share this movie with Choso for the first time.

After wolfing down your food, Choso stands up and takes both of your plates to the kitchen. As he returns and plops next to you on the couch, you watch him stretch his arms up above his head. His black t-shirt slowly rides up, unveiling his chiseled abs that hide underneath the fabric. Your eyes remain glued to him as you notice the collection of dark hairs that seem to flow down…down toward...

You quickly avert your eyes, heat creeping across your face. You shouldn't be having these kinds of thoughts about your friend. That's all you are. Friends! You snap out of your thoughts as you feel the sudden warmth of Choso’s hand come around you as he holds you against him. You turn to face him, completely taken by surprise. He never does this, never acts so affectionate. He always acts so careful to never cross the line beyond friend territory. His eyes stay focused on the movie, hand slowly moving up and down along the smooth skin of your arm. 

Maybe, just maybe Choso wants to blur the lines of friendship and something more. Something you keep wanting but never voice in case he feels differently. Your stomach flutters as all of your held-back emotions for him dare to explode. How you want to hold him, kiss him, make him completely yours. You want to transform this friendship into something so much more. He tugs you a little closer to him, hand still on your arm. You lean into him, feeling the heat of your body mix with his.

You glance up, trying to get a read on his emotions. Nothing. He stares forward, eyes watching every move of the characters on screen. Not a single twitch of a smirk, no quick glances your way. Curse his unreadable expressions. You turn your focus back to the TV screen.

The movie goes on and neither of you speak a word, attention solely on the film. The scene plays where Bella and Edward have their first kiss. Your mind begins to wander yet again. How soft are Choso's lips? What does he taste like? Is he a good kisser? Burning heat floods over your face as you envision it. You swear he could feel the fire rising in your cheeks in this moment. As the movie scene unfolds, you can't stop thinking about how his lips would feel against yours. How badly you crave this sensation. 

You feel like you are being watched suddenly. Tearing your eyes from the film, you look over at Choso. His dark eyes fixed on you, on your lips. His eyes half-lidded, peering at you through his long lashes. His own cheeks sporting a rosy hue. His lips are slightly parted as he takes in your flustered features. You wonder if you can hear your heart pounding violently against your ribcage.

“We should try that” he whispers lowly, eyes lazily flicking over to the kissing on the TV and back to you. He awaits your response, taking in every small move of your face. Your eyes widen, occasionally traveling down to his own plump lips. Your cheeks get warmer by the second while your mouth is watering with anticipation for his. Your mind still reeling, unable to form words to respond. You notice his adam's apple bob in his throat, a slight glimmer of worry in his eyes as you continue to not speak.

“Us?” You whisper in disbelief, eyes unable to break from his lips. He chuckles softly.

“Do you see anyone else here? Yes… us ” his hand not holding your arm reaches up to cup your check, thumb dragging along the skin. His eyes lock with yours. “Just once?” He whispers in question. 

“Just once” you echo, turning your whole body to face his now. Reaching your own hand up to tuck a loose hair behind his ear, his ear tinged pink with blush and excitement. Fingers trace along his jawline then travel behind his head, gently pulling his face closer and closer. 

“Close your eyes” he breathes out, his face mere centimeters from your own. Your lashes flutter shut and you're certain he has done the same. One hand holding your cheek and the other moving to cradle the back of your head. Your pulse quickens with anticipation. Lips tingling as you feel Choso’s warm breath cascade against them. Time is moving incredibly slow, you almost think it has stopped completely. The sound of the movie drowned out, nothing to be heard except your soft breaths mingling with his and the thrumming of your beating heart. 

His soft lips pressed against yours in the next instant. You held your breath for a moment, letting him take charge. Your lips obediently follow his, creating an electric symphony. His warm breath mixes with yours. Then, just as quickly as it started the kiss was over. Your eyes flick back open, looking through your lashes up at him. Noticing his flushed face, a soft sigh escaping his pillowy lips. In that moment, you no longer doubted Choso's feelings for you. That much was painfully clear. 

His thumb reaches over and traces the contour of your lips, his eyes never wavering from yours. A soft exhale escapes you. Neither of you had to speak, it's like you can read the other's thoughts. This was never going to stay ‘just one kiss’. You've each had a taste, an appetizer, and now you want more. You need more like your life depends on it. 

Just as he pulls you back to him, you pull him to you. Ungracefully, bonking eachother on the forehead in your rushed passion. He chuckles shyly and quickly leaves a light kiss where he collided into you. You can't help but smile at the sweet gesture. His lips meet yours again, sparking that burning fire between you. Wet lips gliding against each other in furious need. He moves a hand down to your waist, pulling your body flush to his. You take this moment as an invitation to crawl up onto his lap, all without breaking the kiss.

His tongue pokes at your lips, asking for entry into your mouth. You deepen the kiss, allowing him entry. Tongues dancing together in perfect harmony. A shiver runs through your body, heart crawling up your throat. Pouring all of your pent-up feelings you have for Choso out now into this very moment. 

Your fingers lock with his hair, pulling his head back slightly. As you pull, the hair from one of his pigtails falls out completely, a dark curtain flowing over half his face. You place a trail of light kisses from his lips, to his jawline and down his neck. Pausing to leave small bites along the way. A small moan escapes him by surprise. He grabs your face and pulls you back to look him in the eyes, pressing his forehead against yours. A dull ache pounding from where your skulls clashed earlier. His breath now coming out in quick gasps, head spinning from everything. Fingers reaching forward to swipe your own saliva off of his lips. His eyes flutter closed momentarily at your touch.

“You're so pretty” he whispered suddenly, his thumb drawing lines along your cheekbone. He smiles as he feels the heat return to your cheeks under his touch.

“You're so perfect Choso” you purr his name, a finger idly twirling his hair that fell out. A silence falls over the two of you. So comfortable that words aren't even necessary. The sound of your quickened breath starting to slow fills the air, Twilight forgotten on the TV in the background.

After tonight, things will never feel the same between the two of you. Which is fine, because you don't want to go back to normal. You don't want to go back to just being friends, you want to be more. The freedom to kiss him as you please, to hold him, to explore him body and soul. He's all you ever wanted. The connection growing between you and Choso is so special, so beautiful. You just want to nurture it more and see how it blossoms. 

“Choso?” Your voice is the first to break the silence.

“Hmm?” He hums, nuzzling his head against yours. You sit back slightly, wanting to glimpse a whole view of his face. 

“Umm…what are we? I mean…after…” you trail off, the defining question weighing heavily between you.

“What are we? I guess we are friends, right? Friends who kiss?” He chuckles softly, his lips leaving a kiss on your cheek. Yet you don't laugh along with his joke.

“I'm serious Choso. Friends…friends don't kiss like that” 

“Says who?” He smirks at you. You frown slightly.

“Choso. I want you, I want to be yours. I don't think I can do friends. I want more than a friendship. You understand that too…right?” Your brows knit in worry, frantically searching his face. Did I misread the whole situation? You could have sworn he felt the same.

“We can't” he gently takes you off his lap, sitting you next to him on the couch once again. His eyes look away from yours. 

“Can't? Why not?” You exclaim in disappointment. He still won't look at you. 

“It's complicated,” he mumbles. 

“Is there someone else?” you whisper, swallowing a lump in your throat. “Were you just toying with me?” Imagining him with another girl after the way your lips just locked, it hurts in a thousand ways.

“No!” He spins his head to look at you, eyes flaring in anger and a hint of sadness. He says your name softer “I would never…trust me. I want you too but…” he stops, biting back his next words.

“But what?” You egg him on.

“But we can't. You deserve someone better, someone who isn't me. I'm too rotten for you” the words come out hoarsely. 

“You have been nothing but sweet…nothing but good to me. You've been my protector since the moment we met. You're all I need, all I want. No one would be better for me than you, Choso” You don't care if your pleading voice comes off as pathetic right now, you need to get your point across. For a moment, a glimmer of hope flashes in his eyes, but then it fades. 

“Fuck (Y/N), we cant…I can't. It's just too complicated…too risky...” 

“It's your job isn't it” Your voice is raised louder than you meant it, frustration surfacing. Something finally clicks In your brain, that elusive job of his has to be the reason. He drops his gaze and gives a small nod. Just as you suspected. 

“Being with me…it's dangerous. People want to hurt me, and they won't hesitate to hurt you to get to me” his voice is full of raw emotion as he imagines the horrors. “I can't…I won't…do that to you”

“I don't care,” you blurt out. “Yakuza, assassin, whatever you really are. I. Don't. Care. I trust you, I know you'll keep me safe. I want-” he cuts you off by saying your name.

“Just stop!” Anger is rising up his throat. He drops his head into his hands. “What if something happens to you while I'm not here? What if I fail to protect you? I could never-” his voice cracks. “Never live with myself. I don't want your life in danger” Your gaze softens as you listen to his desperate pleas, reaching a hand out to touch his shoulder, wanting to comfort him. Before your fingers can make contact, he abruptly stands up, avoiding your touch.

“I'm sorry. I should have never kissed you. I…I have to go. I'm sorry” he stands up and rushes toward the door. 

“Choso…please” You stand up to follow him, tears beginning to wet your lashes. 

“No…stop. Don't make this any more painful for either of us” he speaks harshly, avoiding your sad eyes. “I'm no good for you. I can't make you happy like you think I can” With that, he exits the apartment door. You stand there, mind reeling with the turn of events. How did such an amazing kiss turn into the loss of a friend.

˚　　　　✦　　　.　Choso's POV　 . ✦　　 . ★⋆.

Choso storms away from your apartment, hands two tight fists pushed deep into his pants pockets. Gritting his teeth, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He walks along the trail to a nearby park, with the sun down there should be nobody there. 

He would be lying if he said he didn't want to be with you. He wanted to call you his, he's wanted to for the past month. But his mind continues to be plagued by thoughts of fear. Thoughts of you hurt because of him. Of seeing you dead because of some curse user. If he failed to protect you, he doesn't know what he would do. So he doesn't even want to give it a chance. It already felt too risky to be your friend, even with his minimal visits of only once a week.

He finds a bench at the park and sits down, the late-night dew seeping into his clothes. I should have never become her friend. He thinks to himself, kicking at the pebbles on the ground. Seeing the tears in your eyes as he left broke him further. He never intended to hurt you. Why couldn't I just be content being her friend…why did I need to kiss her? idiot! Choso kicks one of the large rocks near the bench, accidentally putting some cursed energy behind it due to his unstable emotions and sending it soaring. He groans and throws his head between his knees. He became too greedy, consumed with the need to taste your lips on his, and now he's gone and ruined everything.

BUZZ BUZZ! His phone vibrates in his pocket, he pulls it out. His heart sinks as he sees your contact photo, your eyes shut sticking your tongue out. He snapped this picture after teasing you about something and you begged him to delete it. Choso never did, he thought his picture was so cute and instead secretly made it your contact photo. A single tear rolls down his cheek as he declines the call. 

He goes back to hanging his head in-between his knees. He never wanted to get this close to you, he just wanted a friend. He didn't intend to fall head over heels. Unfortunately, that was his fate. He couldn't stop it, couldn't control his feelings if he tried. For so long, he bottled them up and prayed they would go away. That only made them stronger, unable to stay at bay.

It sounds silly, but he was hoping you would be a bad kisser. That maybe it would put off his developing crush. Hoping you would use too much tongue or move your lips too fast. God was he wrong. Of course, that had to be the best kiss of his life. Of course, you stole his breath away. The moment your lips first met his, he knew how big of a mistake he had made. 

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ! His phone vibrates as you blow him up with text messages. He sighs and checks them.

You: Pick up!

You: Don't ignore me!

You: Choso!

The messages continue to come in. One after another. Why does she have to be so stubborn? He sighs, about to turn his phone off when he sees the next message flash on the screen.

You: Come back :(

Then silence. The vibrations cease. A fat teardrop falls onto Choso’s locked phone. Then another, and another. He wipes his eyes with the back of his hand, trying to stop them.

He was never supposed to love again. He made that promise to himself. His heart won't be able to handle another breaking. The last one was so painful he vowed to never love again, to protect himself and others.  She had ruined him. She was the reason he won't allow himself to love. She took his heart and shattered it into millions of pieces. In turn, he shut down. So much so that he didn't even want to make friends again. He didn't want to become close to anyone else. Love is too complicated in his field of work, he didn't want to drag you into his world. Wanted to keep it away from you, forever if he could. He only wanted to protect you, to keep you safe. You aren't a sorcerer, you don't see curses, you can't protect yourself. So why is he so madly in love with you? Why did he allow himself to get so close when he vowed not to befriend humans again?

In the month and a half he's been your friend, you're the only thing on his mind. When he's on a mission he thinks about how he can't wait to fall asleep to a movie on your couch. At home, he talks about you nonstop to Yuji until his ears bleed and Choso's throat is sore. He finds himself taking pictures of sunsets and animals while out working, things he knows you would enjoy. Eyes he can get lost in, the softest lips, gorgeous hair. You're so perfect, you drive him insane. 

Everything reminds him of you. He rakes his fingers through his hair, frustrated. Ripping the last remaining hair tie out and letting his locks flow freely. I need her. I need her. I need her . A cluster of tiny light purple flowers sit by the park bench, the same wildflowers in the rabbit print you made. Even these flowers make him think of you. Choso picks one, holding it delicately between his fingers. I can't lose her.

He rises from the park bench and sprints back to the apartment complex. He wants to hurry before you hate him forever, though he would understand if you did. He knocks on the front door, hoping you're still awake, that it's not too late to fix things. Please…please.  He silently begs, focusing on the sound of your footsteps on the other side.

After what feels like a painfully long moment, he hears the lock turning and the door opening. There you stand, eyes red from crying. For a moment, he froze. Not sure what he can possibly say at this moment to make things ok again. He twirls the stem of the purple flower between his fingers slowly.

“I'm sorry” he whispers, barely audible. “I lied…I was lying to myself. I want you, I can't stop thinking about you. I want you to be mine, and mine only.” Choso speaks nothing but the truth. Your eyes widen at his confession, he pauses to take a shaky breath, your name falling from his lips. “I need you…I need you like the air we breathe.” 

With that, you rush forward. Locking your hands around his neck and pulling him into your apartment. He is momentarily thrown off by the sudden sensation of your lips meeting his. He wraps his strong arms around the small of your back, kicking your front door shut as he enters, lips never leaving yours. Frantically kissing you back like his life depended on it. 

“I'm just…scared…I don't want…to lose you…to hurt you…” he whispers on your lips between kisses. You pull back as you gaze up at him, bringing your hands to cup his face. He tucks the small purple flower behind your ear as he holds you against him with the other hand. 

“It's okay to feel scared. Life is scary and unpredictable but that just makes it so much more exciting.” Your words seem to soothe the pit of worry in his stomach. “Things will be ok…we have each other” you whisper. You barely have enough time to get those words out before his lips caress yours once again.

divider by @saradika-graphics

Taglist: @lavenderdaydream97 @angel04-01

A/N: Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a fun and safe night and isn't too hungover today lol!

My resolution for this year is just to keep writing :) Looking back at the first chapter of Blood and Chains written in October and comparing it to the new chapters and my other ongoing fic, I feel like I have grown a lot as a writer. So here is to 2025, to creating new chapters and making friends! I love doing this and every kind word from y'all means so much to me <3

[halitis]

I… need to know if you have more HalbarryOllie thoughts? Please and thank you!

HI OP. tysm for asking because i am actually Always filled with thoughts. they rotate in my mind like a microwave 24/7 :3

this is a mix of headcannons and observations, so i hope that's what you were looking for! sorry it's a billion long i got Invested...

hal and barry for some reason, love to carry each other. they will pick each other up just whenever, barry usually carrying hal in a bridal grasp or hal carrying barry either like a potato sack or creating s construct to carry him. ollie judges them heavily, what freaks. (the first and last time barry tries to carry ollie when it's not necessary, it ends with him taking a solid hit to the crotch. hal will not stop laughing.)

ollie and hal both have leftover habits and trauma from poverty. when one of them sees the other with negative food behaviour, or accidental hoarding they don't say anything because they know they behave the exact same way. another holdover they have, is the stubborn pride that you HAVE to do it yourself. a pipe bursts or something: cue hal and ollie covered in water, apartment flooded, water damage everywhere but Fuck if they aren't going to figure out how to do this! they are outraged when they realised barry called a plumber.

i don't think they will ever get married in anyway, gonna be honest. hal and his commitment issues go brrr and ollie i think just Doesn't like marriage (roy had to get this opinion from somewhere, see below). the only way i ever see them getting married, is because barry wants to (fucking midwesterner), but even then i don't think he actually would want it that badly. i think that paired with the fact that not all of 3 of them can be married, that they just dont bother. paper is not needed to make your love anymore real.

[continued beneath the read more]

ollie and barry at first, just get along for hal. like he is a child of divorce. i think they would start getting really close after a long mission. you know when you are just so bone tired you lose the will to fight? they are just lazing about, and someone says something that usually would start an argument and instead the other just laughs and it's history from there on. they still bicker and argue sure, but they both know it's playful.

another reason they might have to start getting along, is their kids! wally and roy are good friends and at the beginning, some of the only sidekicks. i think their initial dislike manifests in passive-agressive one upping each other. ollie buys the boys a full spread for dinner, barry takes them to europe to try authentic food. barry takes them out to a water park, ollie rents out a themepark for them. the boys probably encourage it, especially wally.

im not gonna start spewing roywally propaganda in this post, but just know that the parallels between them and ollie x barry have me in a deathgrip.

ollie is the Only cis person in this relationship. i hc barry as transmasc, and hal as either gnc or genderfluid. ollie's the diversity hire guys <3 (if you include dinah in this, she is also trans! its cannon dont @ me)

the first time there is ever a Proper Fight in the polycule, it's between hal and ollie. ollie's habit of calling people nazis and facists usually don't bother hal (he was in the army, he had to get over letting dumb insults bother him). but just at some point, he's having a Bad Day and he just loses it at ollie. logically he knows it's not targeted but calling the jewish guy a nazi just set him off. they are both too stubborn to break the silence after the fight, it takes barry dragging ollie like a misbehaving cat to hal's to apologise before they get over it. ollie is now very careful to censor himself like that around hal.

honestly if anyone wants me to expand on my thoughts on jewish hal, or transgender halbarryollie PLEASE ask. im a hairtrigger away at any given moment.

ollie and hal both LOVE boxing, they love going to matches and watching. at some point, they start trying to include barry and take him along to the fights. barry for the life of him Cannot enjoy this shit. somehow, at some point, they end up at a wwe match and they all become avid fans. date nights now include lazing on the couch with takeout and watching playbacks on tv.

barry runs so fucking hot, and ollie runs cold. leaving hal to fucking Despise sharing a bed with them. genuinely his worst nightmare. even the army was better than this. it is not uncommon to find hal on the floor asleep.

after hal's death, ollie doesn't cope with it very well. killing his bf fucks him up so greatly, he ends up really clinging to barry. barry also isn't handling well but he can't let himself fall apart, he needs to be there for ollie. they start living together basically full time, until one day barry's grief just builds up too much and he ends up saying something he regrets in the heat of an argument (probably something along the lines of blaming ollie for hal's death or he's only staying with ollie because of hal). ollie storms off and barry is just... Gutted. before they have time to reconcile, ollie dies. (if im getting my timelines wrong don't look at me, i will sob)

not a single one of these men have fashion taste. they all dress like the loser middle aged men they are. fucking fashion crimes against humanity! hal steals their clothes quite frequently, which is controversial considering he is the largest person out of the three of them and their shirts and stuff are definitely Too tight. (ollie and barry aren't complaining though, except for when they get their clothes back and they are so fucking stretched)

i love picturing them as cheerleaders. not like, in the actual getup, but just as them being the PROUDEST boyfriends. hal and barry bragging about how ollie is the best shot in the world (hes not but its fine :3), green arrow and lantern standing to the side on a mission and just watching flash adoringly because they know he doesn't need their help, ollie and barry smugly parading around hal like "yeah. this is my bf. hes so hot i know. he's so smart as well." none of them have any idea they are doing it though. they are gag worthy.

ollie's love language is gifts but not always monetary. more like making them food, taking them out places and stuff like that. its the thought and effort that goes into it, that's why does it. barry's is touch, this man LOVES hugs and draping himself over his bfs. hals is acts of service! he wants to help and just do whatever he can for them whenever possible. you could see that hal bases his selfworth off of how much he can do for others, which is so horrible and sad. so yknow. brainworms.

ollie's house accidentally becomes their usual meeting place, but only because he fucking HATES the zeta tubes. whenever he meets them anywhere, he will always whine about how they make him sick. barry does offer to pick him up, but it's a point of pride to him at this point, he can't just admit defeat to the zeta. barry and hal make a silent agreement to just meet him instead. (this was based off an actual comic panel, but i cannot for the Life of me remember which one).

none of them show up on time to dates. it actually becomes so incredibly common that when they miss them, no one takes offence anymore. cue one time where they all missed a date, and are sheepish around the others and keep trying to make it up to them. it takes 3 days before they realise that none of them were there.

and that's it for now! thanks for reading mwah maah

[adormeee]

Meddle about

Fratboy!Matt & Shy!reader(readers named lana)

꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ

As you settle into your seat a few minutes before class starts, (you’ve always liked coming to class early to organize your desk area) you take out your wired headphones to listen to music while taking notes. You’ve always liked them more than airpods because they’re not as easy to lose.

The bell rings and class starts, you start writing down what the teacher writes. You look for your pink highlighter before you realize it’s somewhere in your backpack, so quickly retrieve it.

As you do so a few knocks are heard from the door, mr. Harris walks over to see who it could possibly be. “Mr. sturniolo! it’s great to have you.” Your teacher says sarcastically “sorry mr i was us-“ “using the restroom” they say in unison. The class laughs at this interaction.

As Matt starts to walk to his desk mr. harris stops him “Sturniolo i would like to have you switch with someone” he thinks for a moment. “ah could you switch with Diana.”

Your head turns to see Diana’s expression, shes been your desk buddy since the semester started and she’s also your closest and only friend. “But Mr. Harris I haven’t even done anythingg” she whines.

“Thats another reason on why you will switch with matt, you need to focus better up here and he can get help from lana, isn’t that right lana?”

“oh -uhm yeah mhm” you answer him “Great it’s settled please hurry and switch he have a lot to cover today and a project to discuss.

As they switch seats matt settles in the back to where Diana was previously sitting. He takes out his textbook before he looks for a pencil or something he can use to write with.

After he can’t find something he looks next to him seeing you have two mechanical pencils on your desk. “ ‘ya think i could borrow a pencil” he whispers “ uhh yeah sure” as you pass him a pencil. His fingers graze your hand for a moment before you turn back and start writing your notes.

He stares at you before turning to write down his notes.

໒꒰ྀི ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ྀི১

The class instinctively groan all together, “settle down settle down! class don’t get to excited” mr. harris chuckles at his own joke, you also let a slight laughs out too before covering it up with a cough. Matt looks over at you slightly smiles. “i’ll give you guys a week to do some research and making it into google slides, please use the time to look over your notes and making it look nice i don’t wanna see last minute work.”

The class is about to get up to pick their partners before mr. harris blows his whistle. “I would like if you guys would work with your desk buddies it would be easier for me.”

Some people would try to argue but reluctantly agree. Matt on the other hand doesn’t have much care, he thought you would do all the work since you seem smart enough to figure it out.

“so umm- do you wanna start researching some pictures we could use in the project while i do some research about the Neolithic Revolution since we have like 10 minutes left in class?”. Matt looks up from his phone his eyebrows furrowed.

“Oh shit uh yeah i guess i thought we would do this a day before were supposed turn it in.” he scratches his neck awkwardly not wanting to you the full truth. “I would prefer to start now so we wouldn’t stress about it later on” you tell him.

They spend the last few minutes of class doing research and organizing how many slides they will be doing and it what order.

The bell rings and matt is already on his feet before he hears his name, almost missing it. “Matt! -you still have my um pencil.” he quickly takes it out from his side pocket of his backpack.

“also i wanted to know if you wanted to work on this in the library or at each others houses i- i don’t mind.” you awkwardly look down at your feet.

“We can work on it at the library I just might take a while since i have to pick up some stuff from my locker.”

You give him a quick nod indicating you understand to which he smiles and walks away.

໒꒰ྀི ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ྀི১

You’re in the library for a good 20 minutes looking through your notes and writing them down in your google slide, sometimes checking the time wondering where matt could be.

Matt is speed walking to the library hoping you didn’t leave, he wanted to stay true to his word and make it to the library. He finally arrives he’s looking around the library walking towards the back, hoping you stayed.

He sighs in relief when he sees you, he stands there for a minute he’s in awe you have this natural glow that can pull anyone in. He is quick to dismiss it before he walks at the table your at.

“Hey, m’sorry im late i got caught up.” You smile up at him “no you’re good it gave me some time to organize some of our work” you turn your computer towards him so he can see what you’ve been working on.

“wow that’s a lot for like what 30 minutes?” “20 actually” you’re quick to correct him “sounds like someone’s been keeping up with the time” he chuckles at you “me? neverrr” you tell him sarcastically.

You guys spend an hour working your project, his gaze sometimes lock in on you as you spoke even when you got of topic and started to apologize numerous of times which made him smile and chuckle at you.

You guys finally wrap up the bit of work you both have done. You both walk in sync to the parking lot, once outside you start walking towards the exit of the parking lot plugging your headphones into one ear.

“Wait you don’t have a ride?” you turn to him “no my car broke down so i have to walk!” you exclaim “let me drive you home, my treat for making you wait.”

You hesitate before reluctantly agreeing you follow him to his car, you open the door to the passenger side sitting down as he starts up the car, “sorry for the mess” he chuckles “no no your good” you smile at him before looking out the window.

There’s this silence as he starts to drive you to your house after you told him where you live. Rain starts to pour harder and harder by the minute feeling up the silence in the car.

“The rain is really starting to pour luckily you had me.” he smile looking at you for a moment before looking back at the road. “yeahh” you slightly giggle. “Shit i think i might need to pull over i can barely see the road.” you look at him worried is written all over his face.”

You guys pull over to an empty parking lot. You both sit in silence as the rain starts to pour harder.

“Soo… you have any siblings?” matt questioned as he looks at you “ Matt you don’t have to make conversation with me it’s okay if you don’t wanna talk to me out of school don’t force yourself.”

Matt frowns at you i mean he knows you guys are completely different from each other (popularity likewise) but he wasn’t that mean unlike his brother chris.

“No lana im being serious i wanna get to know you i mean we are working on a project together so might as well use the time to get to know each other” he leans in closer his elbow on the center console. You bite your lip before picking at the skin of your nails.

You’re really not used to talking to anyone other than Diana so this whole situation feels a little weird. “I guess i just don’t want you to be seen talking to someone like me.” Matt’s eyebrows furrow “ to be seen talking to someone like you? what is that supposed to mean?” “ you know what it means Matt.”

“No i really don’t” you sigh “it means you will get teased by your friends by being forced to talk to me.” Matt scoffs “Oh cmon Lana you think they could do something please they are all bark no bite.”

You quietly laugh feeling a comfort in his words. “And plus if anything i think they would get jealous that i’m talking to a pretty girl like you.” you blush at his kinds words “you don’t mean that your just bein’ nice.”

He leans in closer his face inches away from you “I can prove it if you want doll” your breath hitches you’ve never kissed anyone and never expect it to be Matt.

Matt doesnt know what overtook him, he’s usally never the one indicating the kiss but with you he feels something different something more calmer.

He finally closes the gap smashing his lips against yours. He tastes your cherry lip balm your soft lips trying to work rhythmically with his. His had moves you jaw holding you steady in place.

He pulls away slightly “You’re really fucking pretty you know that?” before he starts to suck your neck softly. You whine at the pleasure of his lips on your skin “Matt…” “ yes- “ kiss “doll?” kiss. The kisses, his calm voice making you feel all kinds of things, “we- hmm.. -we can’t” you pull away from him.

His fucked out expression looking so desperate for you or maybe to just be touched “I don’t wanna be part of your roster of being another girls pants you’ve gotten into, we both know we won’t be anything more than what we are now.”

You hesitate before you tell him your biggest secret “i’m also a -um virgin.. so i’ve never really never done any of this and i don’t don’t think i’m ready.” you tell him looking down at your nails avoiding his gaze.

“But i- Lana-” you interrupt him“The rain seemed to calmed down just please drive me home Matt.” you just wanna get out of this awkward situation.

He complies as he starts the car and drives to your place. Once he arrives at your drive way you tell him ‘bye’ before exiting his car. He watches you as you walk away thinking about what happened earlier.

He can’t get the feeling of your soft lips on his the noises you made because of him out of his mind, he pops his train of thought before pulling out the driveway and back to his place.

Meanwhile you let out a shaky breath you didnt know you were holding in. You greet your mom who was in the kitchen before heading upstairs pondering your time with matt wondering how tomorrow could go.

꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ ꣑ৎ

a/n : starting a short lil seriessss!! 🙈🙈🐰(also the picture of the girl is a reference photo for the readers outfit!)

taglist: @mialovesyouchris

[true-blue-sonic]

Also, Knuckles outright calls Silver rude in Rivals 1:

Silver: He certainly knows how to run, I'll give him that... Hey, you there! Did you see that guy carrying something strange? Knuckles: Actually... He has this weird camera that changes things into cards... Wait a minute... Who are you? Silver: What'd you say!? How did he get a hold of it? Knuckles: You...! What are you mumbling about? Silver: Got no time to explain it to someone like you... See ya! Knuckles: "Someone like me?" Hey, I'm Knuckles! Haven't you heard of me? How rude! Asking questions without having the gall to introduce himself! Silver: Like I said before, I don't have time to deal with you right now. See ya! Knuckles: You little... Get back here!

And in Rivals 2, Silver tells Knuckles to shut up in Knuckles' storyline, to Rouge's displeasure:

Eggman Nega: Well, well. Looks like you acquired my Emerald Detector. Now, what else do you require? Knuckles: We still can't find the Master Emerald and I think you know where it is. Eggman Nega: Maybe I do and maybe I don't. Knuckles: Stop these games, Eggman! Silver: Shut up, Knuckles. I need to talk to him so just get out of here! Rouge: Hey, watch your mouth, kid! Don't take that tone with us! Eggman Nega: Silence! All of you! I'll give you all a REAL reason to be upset!

I stopped reading IDW after issue 64, in part because I was incredibly done by Silver's portrayal in the comics. On the one hand, there's just a problem of bad writing: things like the girls not picking up on Duo's "I couldn't save Silver and now he's dead :(" two seconds later "I was going to get help!!!!! D:", or the writers seemingly completely forgetting Whisper has a recorder in her mask that thus goes entirely unmentioned, which got kinda handwaved in a later issue. But an IC Silver would not have folded to Lanolin like he did: I would say Silver only cares for the authority of people who've proven to be on the same page as him, like Blaze or Espio. What has Lanolin done to prove that? She picks Duo's side immediately, and Silver just rolls with it without arguing with her about it and goes off to sulk instead of being proactive (I guess maybe as a callback to '06? Except in '06 Silver's entire worldview got rattled for a bit there by Amy, which issue 63 really did not achieve to that level). Silver's a proactive guy! He doesn't sit around waiting for troubles to come, he actively goes and does his best to solve them. And it's also just dumb things like issue 64 showing him all clumsily tripping or his quills poking out of the bush all obviously, or him (aka Meteor Smash guy) being unable to catch Duo in a one-meter fall. I agree with the fact that it's frustrating to see; it feels like Silver just does not get taken seriously.

And on that topic, a lot of Silver in the comics seems to be written to be very... cutesy, I think is a good way to describe it. Very uwu baby cinnamon roll, I've used as terms before too. Must protecc him, he's got no social skills because everyone in his future is dead and he was always alone and he's never been rude to anyone ever. Except the problem with Silver as a character is that he's not meant to be cutesy, I would argue, and the previous sentence is rife with misconceptions. He's got a deep-ass voice in Japanese and uses rude language and rude gestures up the wazoo, he's 100% down to murder someone to solve his problems and save the world, in the Rivals games he's got an insult or just general obstinateness ready for basically everyone, in the fourth and fifth line of his intro in '06 he mentions other people in Crisis City and both Rivals games show what a jerk he can be... That's really not uwu baby cinnamon roll material, in my opinion. What could arguably be cutesy is his naivety, but then indeed what Siggie describes: him not realising that not everybody shares the knowledge he has and sees things in the way he does. Not whatever IDW is pulling with him. But as for a solution, I don't know; if the writers think Silver is inherently meant to be a cutesy socially awkward li'l guy, I presume that's what they'll keep writing him as. To that end, I hope the Sonic Channel medias and the video games will keep providing a more in-character Silver!

What’s your thoughts on idw silver, I personally think he is ok but I feel like the idw comic didn’t really do very well with his character.

I can't say I like him... at all.

American Sonic media already has a history of needless and quite frankly terrible changes, whether made out of ignorance, xenophobia towards Sonic Team/SoJ, some vague, made-up sense of marketability, or all three. So, I'm already wary of media like that. They always change fundamental aspects of Sonic's appeal and are supremely unenjoyable to me as a result.

To stay on track here - why do I dislike IDW Silver? The main reason is that I think he's portrayed as way too polite and nice to people. He has no backbone. It's as if he was just based off of popular fanon or Archie comics, rather than the source material. I don't blame anyone for thinking Silver is some timid, polite sweetheart if fanon and IDW/Archie is all they have consumed, but I'm doing my best to dispel that notion for the sake of conquering misinformation. As a casual fan, it is understandable to have misconceptions, but I'm going to be much more harsh to official media.

I need to hammer home the fact that Silver is rude and often talks down to people. Sonic '06, Silver's debut game, showcases this very well. In an '06 cutscene, he talks down to Sonic after attacking him when his guard was down. The casual stride over to a wheezing, incapacitated Sonic kills me. The disrespect is fucking crazy.

In the level Flame Core, he acts haughty and superior about his abilities, even letting out a light chuckle at how pathetic the enemies are. And, a detail that is easy to miss, he doesn't even apologize for trying to kill Sonic.

That's not even mentioning the Rivals games being a wonderful source of Rude Silver™, where there are too many snide remarks to count.

IDW Silver is a telltale case of Silver's nuance being stripped so that he only represents one trait of his- that trait being "naivety." Silver's naivety is mentioned twice by Blaze in Sonic '06 because this is relevant to the story. Naivety is Silver's fatal flaw that leads to him being easily manipulated by Mephiles. However, his naivety isn't due to some innocent, childlike outlook on the world. Silver takes everyone at face value and always assumes people are telling the truth to him due to a lack of social skills. This is why, when Silver mentions something outlandish or unbelievable to people, he is confused why they don't believe him. This is shown in both Rivals 2 and the Sonic x Silver wallpaper cover story.

IDW seems to completely miss this nuance and conflates "naivety" with childlikeness and innocence. When you realize this, decisions put towards Silver's characterization in IDW makes a lot of sense - his hyperactive excitement and adulation over Whisper is a good example, but how he doesn't talk back to Sonic calling him "flatware" in Issue 8 particularly bothers me.

Realistically, Sonic would immediately get thrown into a wall if he said this to Silver.

Portrayals like IDW Silver are just so utterly confusing. How in the world does Silver get misconstrued this way, into something entirely opposite of what he is, in both fanon and official media? To be completely honest, it makes me frustrated. I want things to change and I feel like I have to speak up. I ended up writing an essay about Why Silver is Rude. I'm sorry anon.

[kacievvbbbb]

*Puts hand on your lower back and gently leads you down the path* walk with me for a moment. Think about it;

Young Mihawk, Young Shanks, Laurie confessing to Jo speech from Little Women (2017). Right before Shanks pulls off the robbery and heads to the East blue. the last time Shanks asks Mihawk to join his crew the only time he really means it.

*Grabs your arm as you start to walk away* wait wait- just listen.

Shanks saying all this? Right before he knows he’s about to steal something very important from a navy ship and would probably need to lie low for years. His way of begging Mihawk to come with him? Insane fucking cut my heart out.

Shanks: Sail with me?

Mihawk: …..What?

Shanks: Sail with me.

Mihawk:….(sigh) Shanks can we not-

Shanks: no no its no use Mihawk , we gotta have it out I have loved you ever since I’ve known you Mihawk I couldn’t help it, and and I tried to show you and you wouldn’t let me and I must make you hear me now and give me an answer because I cannot go on like this any longer, I gave up rum I gave up everything you didn’t like I’m happy I did it’s fine and I waited and I never complained because I, you know I figured you’d love me Mihawk and I realised im not half good enough and im not this great man and I-

Mihawk: Shanks! No.

And Shanks would keep pushing because to a young shanks whose only ever had crew as family and who never really got over his abandonment issues; Joining the crew is saying you’ll stay and staying means you love him enough to not leave him. And Shanks can’t deal with anyone else leaving him.

But of course all this does is push Mihawk away. They leave Shanks to rob a marine ship and Mihawk to leave a trail of bodies in his wake. And the next time they see each other Shanks has lost an arm and Mihawk’s entire world came crashing down.

[tenwhiteandalusians]

so no one was going to tell me if i got literally one episode further tenax drops that he’s the one who saved scorpus from his mom’s pimp AND that he’s intimately familiar with scorpus’ dick when he was younger. guys. guys.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

if you switch off mags after dying in a magneto mirror match in rivals i am judging you. btw.

[freydis-freydat]

Hazel eyes shifted to take in his profile to try and determine if the word was meant to mock her or if he truly thought her to be so. Her hands sunk below the moonlit surface of the water to wrap around herself, nails digging crescents into the skin of her waist where they rest. “It’s a vocation,” she responded quietly, as if his singular word response had been an admonishment. Freydis didn’t know how else to verbalize the drive she felt in the very essence of her being. She was quiet as he described the likely fate of Iskaldrik and the spread of Aetheron’s threat, their false guise as liberators in an effort to gain pawns and advance their war game. She looked at him when he used the title, and even Freydis didn’t know in truth if she would say it was a formal or current title. “It’s a useful status still,” she argued quietly, though he likely understood by now how much she would like to abandon the honorific. “Or… in some places it can be. Perhaps not Lysara, I benefited us little there aside from being a source of humiliation.” The sting of that truth had become smaller over time, and she still stood in the conviction she’d angrily vocalized that evening: they were not the type of people she wished to be impressive to. A hand lifted from the water to cradle his tilted head, her thumb gently stroking the plane of his cheek. “Do you enjoy it?” she asked of the unlikely affection that had developed between them. But she withdrew her hand after a moment. “Would you have an easy time of that? Of not defending me if tonight I decided to ask you not to?” 

Silently, she committed Nikandros’ true name to memory. She had learned before that there was power in the knowledge of a demon’s true name, but she had no intention of harming Nikandros and fewer intentions of risking his ire. Part of her considered that the less she knew about Nik, the safer things might be. Another piece of her appreciated that Eivor was willing to disclose as much as he did. The greater sum of her resented Aetheron for tearing the dragon from the veil so violently and completely. “Not yet,” she tried to encourage him, but she did not know what else to say, how else to comfort him. After she said it, she resolved to do everything she could to ensure it was not an empty statement. Freydis wanted to find the smile he offered her as a comfort, and to a small degree, it was. But her expression did not begin and end at mere worry, the corners of her mouth and the shining of her eyes also carried fear. “But not impossible.” 

Eivor asserted a valid point: it might be safer for any escaped dragons across the board the keep their distance. But the Aetheron also knew they were something to be feared, took pains to strip them of power, to separate them all, they saw the threat that lived in their combined, full power. Why else would they be so covetous of them and go to such lengths to control them? But this was not the time to argue this point with Eivor, especially given she did not believe one of them was in the right and that the other was in the wrong. “You don’t have to be either of those things here,” she told him quietly. She looked nervous as she responded: “They brought out a dragon–the one who spoke was named Anthin, and they claimed the dragon with them was their daughter, Tiamat. The one who took the king.” Freydis didn’t miss him. “But another dragon, a blighted one, came from who knows where… That was the one we killed.” She supposed there was no real way to know if Tiamat suffered similar servitude to Eivor if his memories were too compromised to be relied on. Her nose wrinkled and she turned away from the splash but regret it somewhat to miss the sight of a smile. “Tragically, I’m a liberated woman and I do as a please,” she pouted back at him, primarily because she used his phrasing against him. But she was quiet for a moment after he spoke again, thinking of Iskaldrik, thinking of the proving ground of a holmgang’s fighting ring, and the unyielding line of challengers. “I’m not used to the opportunity… privilege… of picking my battles,” she admitted after a few moments. She suspected Eivor may not know precisely what she meant, but that he would be able to relate. And she wasn't an unending well of stamina; she was exhausted. “I want to fight to see the world set right again… From the Aetherian… From the Darkspawn. From what we did in Iskaldrik.” And Ormir had expectations of her. Aurea had asked her to lead under her banner. The voice from the Feywilds had called to her. Fharzai had beseeched her from the dream world. “I fight for the people I love.”

"Noble," Eivor murmured after a moment, though he didn't wish to diminish Freydis' words of inspiration. She seemed very set on her beliefs, having only seen a small part of Aetheron's power and destruction. "Even if Aetheron took over Iskaldrik, they freed everyone in the mines. Not out of the goodness of their hearts, but those who were set free might have seen it a different way." Eivor had considered this before, that former captives of Iskaldrik could've easily joined Aetheron – spilling secrets, knowledge. In fact, Eivor was certain of it. "You speak like you're still a Jarl." It was mostly said to poke fun, but he could hear the tonal differences, the structure of how she pieced together everything she wished to say. Eivor couldn't relate. He said what he felt in the moment, a luxury he'd never had before. Affection – she'd brought up the word, and perhaps that was what Eivor could attach such a feeling to. "It was not just affection," he finally said, tilting his head. "Kinship. Friendship. That affection came after." But he wasn't a noble person, not like Freydis. It was anger that drove his steps. "But if you wish to defend me, then I would ask you to not."

"Yes, like the veil. The world of spirits." He remembered it fondly, perhaps one of the few things that could soften the hardened look in Eivor's blue eyes. The dragon couldn't reach such a place anymore, no matter how hard he tried. "It's where I bonded myself to Zaknafein. You know him as Nikandros, but Nik is who carries him, now. I knew them both, love them both, yet still, even in their presence, I cannot reach this place. Not anymore," his voice got quieter, a solace that he couldn't put into words gone from his grasp. At times, he thought he felt glimpses of it within Freydis' cabin, but it was so new, the dragon wasn't sure if it was just his desperation bleeding into his new connection with the veilmaiden. Eivor remained silent for a few moments, but he gave a half smile, despite her worry, "I am hard to kill, Freydis."

"Find the rest? And ruin how they have kept themselves hidden? No. It would be worse for me to do that." Eivor knew he was the one who stuck out. He'd known there were others, but keeping such captive animals together would've only fueled a larger desire to leave. "If they wish to find me, I believe they could. Most of my memories within the Archon's home are...unreliable. Violent. I was a prize, not a participant." Freydis spoke of the three, but once again, the dragon wished he had a better grip on what he knew. Yet she trailed off, some sort of realization hitting her, and Eivor was no mind reader, "What did they bring out?" He snorted slightly at her final idea, splashing water at her with a small, cocky grin, "You were right in understanding that I will decline." He used her formal word instead of a lazy one, as he would do. Despite his words, his expression was semi-relaxed, "You have to fight for what you want, not take on the world's problems. Or you will never get a chance to live a quiet life."