#but also my beautiful vision of what it could be where all three of them lie to you and then polly says Sigh

[planet4546b]

the thing is that i remain torn about the mason segment in succession because on the one hand i do think it’s a very fun literalization of the constant aa theme of the past always coming back to get you in the way that the past and present in mason are literally intertwined and inseparable, and i like the framing of it as from phoenix in an unreliable narrator sense, where mason says ‘phoenix is so caught up in this thing that happened to him 7 years ago that he is continually retelling it but saying well, what if i had had the perfect info and what if i knew then what i know now and what if i had figured it out right away?’ which is such a fascinating and fun type of obsession with a past event (and even more fun in that it’s actively a lie because the story that mason tells is literally impossible, and yet phoenix is presenting it to the court as true!)

HOWEVER (and this is where i feel justified as a flashback hater) the issue is that especially in a game that is so much about performance, presentation, and facade, i think it’s narratively a hugely wasted opportunity to only hear phoenix’s presentation of events, AND the second day investigation time slot it takes up takes a massive chunk of time away from the rest of our cast and character development they could have had. in the ideal version of succession (to me) the second investigation day is apollo trying to get the full story out of trucy, klavier, and phoenix, giving all of them a chance to lie and present the story in the way that they see it, granting us character insight into how they each feel about the magnifi case and how it continues to affect them (a thing i want for trucy especially badly). i went into the second court day of succession feeling hugely disconnected from the three in the courtroom because apollo had been told this information offscreen and i didn’t know how he felt about it, and instead of piecing together what had happened along with him as the case proceeds, you get told what happened in an (albeit pretty fun) side investigation. so i don’t know! i don’t know. i still feel like succession didn’t land for me like it could and i think both the flashback case and mason are at fault but also. mason is thematically interesting. anyways while im here you can make vegan chocolate mousse with vegan whipped topping and cocoa powder and that’s it. probably 1/2 cup cocoa powder to a pint of whipped topping? pretty good

[httpsdana]

Can you do a Pau request where reader plays for fc Barcelona femeni and he and other players of the men’s team go to watch a femeni game and she catches his attention. Maybe you can end it with them going on a date. It’s okay if you can’t 😊

Admiring From Afar~Pau Cubarsi

・❥・prompt list

・❥・masterlist -> part 2

・❥・who I write for

It wasn't unusual for some of the senior team's players to go watch the femení team matches. It was almost like a tradition.

Pau had come with Hector and Lamine to watch their first match of the ladies.

The crowd in Estadi Johan Cruyff was loud and lively, as the team got ready to dominate yet another match.

When the teams started making their way to the pitch, one unfamiliar face caught Pau's attention.

“who's that?”he nudged Lamine next to him, pointing at the midfielder.

“that's y/n. she just got transferred this year to the team but already saved her spot in the starting line up at 17” Lamine explained, Pau being impressed by her already.

“her vision is unreal,” Hector added, making Pau hum as his eyes never left her.

Hector caught Lamine's eye for a second, giving him a knowing look before the kick off whistle went off.

The moment she received the ball, Pau was hooked. The way she moved so effortlessly, making each skill seem way too easy drew his attention.

“oh wow” he mumbled, more to himself but of course Lamine had heard him.

“does someone have a crush?” he teased, making Pau roll his eyes but he never denied it.

Other than her talent and skills, her beauty was also unmatched. He couldn't help his eyes lingering on her for too long.

As soon as the match ended, after a brilliant performance by the whole team and especially y/n who had provided two assists and scored two goals, the barca social media team asked the boys to come down to the pitch and take some pictures with the players.

y/n was called alongside Aitana and Vicky for these pictures.

She had seen the three boys all over her Instagram, of course, as they are the star boys of the team, but she never really met any of them.

What caught her was the bright green eyes of the tall center back, who seemed to stay on her as she walked closer to them.

“I'm y/n” she introduced, shaking hands with the three boys.

“Lamine, Hector, and Pau” Lamine pointed out,while she nodded with a smile.

“you were incredible out there,” Pau blurted out.

She smiled at his compliment, being thankful that her cheeks were already flushed from the match, so he wouldn't notice that she was blushing at his words.

“thank you” she smiled, before Aitana cleared her throat.

“let's get this picture, yeah?” she urged, while the others nodded.

Pau stood next to y/n, his hand hovering over her back as the ground took a photo, before the girls were rushed to the lockers.

“It was nice meeting you all. see you soon” she waved, before following the others.

Pau stood there for a second, before he heard snickers from behind him.

“don't start” he shook his head at his two friends.

“we didn't say anything” Lamine raised his hands in surrender though his smile said otherwise, “but I ship”

“me too” Hector added with a smirk, making Pau roll his eyes.

“lets just go,” Pau said, already starting to walk away.

“oh he's in love” Lamine said, making Hector chuckle next to him before they followed their teammate.

Later that day, as y/n settled on her couch after a relaxing shower, a specific notification from her Instagram caught her attention.

@ paucubarsi started following you

She smiled, opening the notification immediately. She followed him back, not thinking much of it. Before she could even set her phone down, another notification came in.

Pau Cubarsi

Hey y/n, I hope you're having a good day. I was wondering if you'd like to go out for coffee soon?

With that DM and a simple coffee date, the start of a new love story had begun.

my taglist: @barcapix @paucubarsisimp @spidybaby @mxryxmfooty @n0vazsq @joaosnovia @ilovebarcaaa (lmk if you want to be added!!)

[maidflowery]

Good Morning, Have a Nice Day

Aventurine x Reader

You told your boyfriend, Aventurine, to wake you up early the next morning. But little did you know...

"-up. Wake up, Sunshine."

In your slumber, you faintly heard a voice. The tone was cheerful, almost rivaling the birds chirping outside the window.

"Mm..."

Is it morning already...?

"Oh, the Sleeping Beauty finally wakes up. Hey, don't go back to sleep."

The voice spoke, as laid-back as ever, as if trying to lull you back to sleep.

But... Why didn't I hear any alarm...?

"If you don't wake up by the count of three, I'll kiss you. One... Two..."

"What time is-GAH!!"

When you opened your eyes, Aventurine's dashing face was hovering a few inches away from you. It was apparent that he'd been watching you the whole time.

Close! Too close!

"Your response to your boyfriend's gentle wake up call is to scream to his face...?"

He sulked, but not for long. Soon, he was smiling from ear to ear again. Was the sight of you waking up that fantastical?

"Good morning~ if you sleep again, the counter will pick up from where it left off."

"...More importantly, what time is it right now?"

Seeing how bright the sun was shining outside the window only gave you bad feelings.

Pretty sure you'd asked him to wake you up at 6 AM. You even set an alarm at 5 AM. After all, your class started at 8 AM.

Aventurine looked slightly dejected for a moment, before answering.

"7.30 AM, why?" he asked as if it was someone else's business.

"7.30 AM!? But... Didn't I... Tell you to wake me up at..." You were so shocked that you could only stutter.

"Well, yes, and I promised to wake you up as early as I could." Aventurine innocently shrugged his shoulders.

As early... As he could?

Somehow, you felt there was a huge emphasis right there. The two of you stared at each other, one dumbfounded, one smiling nonchalantly.

Ah!!! Right!!!

He sucks at getting up early!!!

Actually, both of you were.

If this was a movie, then it was probably the moment when the main character shouted, 'I shouldn't have trusted him!'

Thus, you bolted out of the room and began preparing at the highest speed known to man.

"Aventurine!!"

A few minutes later, you dashed straight toward his room again. By that time, you had showered and dressed for college.

But the moment you stepped in, your jaw almost dropped to the floor.

Aventurine stood there with only a white towel draped over his waist. He'd clearly just stepped out of the shower, as his body glowed with a wet sheen.

Glittering droplets of water clung to his chiseled abs, some trickling down even further below. It took you everything not to follow them with your eyes.

Aventurine, who was drying his hair, finally turned at you.

"What's the matter? It's nothing you haven't seen before."

He cocked an eyebrow at you, a playful and tantalizing grin tugging at his lips.

"Aventurine... Why... What are you doing naked!?" you couldn't help but blurt out.

"Says the one who barged in without knocking. Anyway, need anything?"

Saying that, Aventurine approached you, his broad chest filling your field of vision.

Trying to block the view, you shoved your phone to him.

"I'm here to talk about this! Why did you turn off my alarm!? No wonder it didn't ring!"

"Ah, that... But weren't you tired last night? I just thought of letting you sleep a bit longer. How are you feeling now? Did you rest well?"

Aventurine stared at your phone, not trying to deny or affirm it.

Based on his words alone, he sounded like a caring, attentive boyfriend who was just looking out for his girlfriend.

Except you didn't buy it, because of two glaring contradictions.

"Whose fault is it that I barely got any sleep last night!? Also, if that's the case, you must've either disabled it right after I fell asleep, or woke up way earlier!"

"But in the end, I still woke you up, right?" Aventurine gave you an 'all's well that ends well's' smile.

"What do you mean 'in the end'? Were you planning to not wake me up?"

"In the end, I still did, right?"

"..."

He totally planned to!!

Seriously, why is he acting like this!?

In truth, you knew why. You also knew that underneath his nonchalant and flippant attitude, he was sulking.

As you stood there, fuming, Aventurine asked you, putting the towel around his neck.

"Won't you be staying for breakfast?"

"No. Thanks to someone, I have to skip it."

Despite the hint of wistfulness in his tone, you bluntly turned him down, averting your gaze.

"Then, will you be having lunch with your team leader instead? Say hi to him for me."

Hearing that, you raised your head and shot back.

"We've spoken about this! It's just an obligatory meeting to discuss the assignment progress!"

"One that you set a bunch of alarms and even skipped breakfast for. Totally not important indeed."

... It was because you'd ditched one too many of such meetings, missing the next one would totally get you axed. In your defense, that team leader was a prick.

Of course, there was no way you could admit that you often skip group activities to your boyfriend. Or that karma was finally biting you in the ass. That'd be super lame.

We are getting nowhere fast, and I'm running out of time.

"...A-anyway, I'll get going."

You awkwardly turned around, still trying to maintain a tough front.

"Hey, you forget something."

You turned around. "What is—"

His lips sealed yours, and you were unable to finish your words.

"!!"

Aventurine ferociously devoured your lips, leaving no inch untouched, as if imprinting himself. He nibbled on your upper lips, before gnawing on the lower ones. He allowed you a brief moment of respite to reclaim your breath, before resuming his onslaught from a different angle.

The delicate string that was holding your rationality together was about to snap. You were basically holding onto him at this point.

He stroked your tingly lips with the tip of his tongue, gently parting them. Then, his tongue slid in, coiling around your own.

Just as you thought of surrendering completely to this mind-blowing kiss, he stopped.

"...Aren't you going to be late? Whoops."

Aventurine caught you as you toppled forward, burying you in his chest. Immediately, the refreshing, masculine fragrance of his cologne filled your nose.

Embarrassingly, your legs had turned into jelly.

"Oh no. Can you stand? Should we call in sick?"

Within his arms, you could hear him suggest that a tad too happily.

"...No thanks. I'm still going."

You somehow managed to squeeze out those words despite the supple tenderness around you.

"What a shame. Even though your dear boyfriend is home at last."

He spoke in a deflated tone that you could tell was genuine.

Aventurine was a busy man. His business trip would sometimes last for more than a month. Today, he finally had a day off.

All you could do was stare at him as he wiped a trace of saliva from his lips, smiling provocatively at you

"Oh, well. We can always save it for later. If it gets too unbearable, you can always come back to me. Have a nice day."

The kiss that ended as abruptly as it started was his way of giving you something to think about.

As underhanded as always...

You wanted to wipe that smug look off his face!

You grabbed the towel around his neck, pulling him toward you. Briefly, you saw his eyes widen as he was caught off-guard.

"Mmh-!"

Then, you gave Aventurine the taste of his own medicine, but with your own finishing touch.

After the kiss had ended, Aventurine, seemingly taken aback, reached for his lower lip. A red mark had blossomed on his lip, turning it a deeper shade of crimson.

"...I told you, I'll sneak off in the middle, so please wait for me." You said.

Still tracing his lip, Aventurine stared straight at you, his violet-cyan eyes burning from within.

"...Alright. I'll be patient. But I won't wait for too long."

Extra

...Aventurine's patience lasted only until lunch break.

Read more stories

[icyg4l]

Pick-A-Meme: What Is In Store for You in April 2024?

Hello beautiful people. Tonight marks the beginning of a new month, April!!! I am so excited to be delivering a new PAC reading. I will continue to be as consistent as possible. Please book a personal reading with me here! And without further ado, please pick your pile!

Top Left-to-Bottom Right (1-4):

Pile One: I feel like you’re going through a rebirth, a spiritual purification. You need to purchase some hyssop, Pile One. I feel like you’re going to be looking at life from a different perspective. There’s a decision that you’re going to have to make in order to be content with your life. You have to choose yourself! I also feel like this month you’ll be focused on going outside into the city! You could get invited to some type of festival or a cooking class perhaps. It seems like this month you should be focused on taking risks and getting out of your comfort zone, Pile One. But even with all of this happening, you should keep your eye on the prize. Discipline yourself and keep your head on straight to the narrow path. Don’t get distracted by the bs, Pile One. 

Cards Used: Death, The Fool, Knight of Cups, Judgment, Nine of Cups, Temperance, Queen of Swords, Four of Discs. 

extras: white clothes. chicago. tundra. icicle. party girl. 

Pile Two: After I pulled some cards for this pile, I saw the vision of someone parting a moving mountain, like holding two mountains to avoid being crushed. I see that you have a big heart, Pile Two. You would do something like this for other people. But there’s someone in your life that is taking advantage of that. There is a connection, particularly love, where the efforts you put forth aren’t being reciprocated. It’s time to know your worth, babe. This is especially true if you are in a long distance relationship. I see that you will be meeting someone new who appreciates your energy and is willing to take care of you. But in order for this to work, you need to keep an open mind. This person is a bit eccentric, Pile Two. I also see that if you have been searching for apartments, you will be preparing to move out of your neighborhood by the end of the month. 

Cards Used: King of Wands, Five of Cups, Justice, Two of Wands, The Lovers, 4 of Discs, The Fool, 4 of Cups (RX), Two of Cups (RX), The Emperor, Page of Cups. 

extras: playing cards. heartbreak hotel. dracula. pity. sarcasm. brooklyn. candlelight dinner. mardi gras. 

Pile Three: This pile has been having hangups about a certain situation. Perhaps, you’ve been having dreams about something that occurs in your waking life. These dreams are in fact premonitions. You need to be taking note of them so that you can make the best decision. You may have been drawn to Pile One. I feel like this pile is getting settled in with something, maybe ‘it’ has to grow on you. Don’t let anyone affect your decision making at this time because you are the one that has to live out the effects of it. You could be going off to college, making the decision to move or stay in your hometown, deciding whether or not you need a new car or should just get it repaired. Either way, you need to lean into your intuition. Depend on yourself. I feel like this pile has been listening to the new Beyoncé album heavy. So if you resonate with that then this is definitely your pile. Don’t make a decision that you will regret. Watch your environment closely. 

Cards Used: Temperance, The High Priestess, Knight of Pentacles, Seven of Cups (RX), 8 of Swords, King of Wands, Five of Cups. 

extras: “blinded by tradition.” lilith. yodeling. partition. oracle cards. eye for an eye. watermelon. “my precious.”

Pile Four: Oh, Pile Four. You’ve been working on yourself big time, haven’t you? Because of this, I feel like April will be the month where you receive recognition for your efforts. I feel like this pile participated in Lent or Ramadan, or you’ve just been disciplined and staying out the way. I feel like you will be introduced to a new lover soon that you’ll meet through friends but you’ll be uber cautious of them because you’re used to being by yourself. Lots of people will try to get your attention during this month but I feel like you’ll continue to stack your coins and enjoy your time as a bachelor/ette. There’s many opportunities for you to make money, especially if you’re a young entrepreneur. I see the image of someone scanning through a brochure. So please, do what you have to do to make that money! But don’t let it make you! I also see that you could meet your mentor at some type of conference as well. You really need to network, Pile Four (to my fellow introverts, all will be okay, love).

Cards Used: King of Pentacles, 9 of Cups, The Tower (RX), The Sun, Ten of Cups, Ace of Discs, Nine of Wands, Wheel of Fortune, 3 of Cups, Princess of Cups (RX).

extras: BLT. hummus. pilates. health conscious. “please don’t partake in that.” suburban. office hours. sneak peek.

[thephantomcasebook]

I'm not a book reader, but I've been intrigued by the theory that Alys Rivers uses the faces of men's true loves to hypnotize them and get into their heads. As you mentioned It's a popular idea from the books that could potentially be adapted into the show. In the show, it's suggested that Alys is 400 years old.

As you're are more familiar with the books, can you explain what Alys does there? Did she ever take on Helaena's form? I'm also curious about the Alys and Aemond relationship. Some fans, especially "Alysmond" shippers, argue that their relationship is consensual and that Aemond genuinely falls for her, even suggesting that they have a love child. However, I'm struggling to understand how a man who burns her house and spares her only to make her his bedmaid can be considered to have a consensual romance between them. Can you please help clarify this dynamic for me?

Umm ...

It's tricky, cause, there's a shit ton of theories out of and in universe about who and what Alys Rivers is.

No one really know in universe where she came from or who she is. She's just always been there. Some people think that she's Harwin and Lary's bastard sister. Other people think that she was their wet nurse. Other people can't remember a time that she wasn't at Harrenhal. She is enchanting and beautiful ... or so she seems to the men she targets.

She's tried to seduce Daemon, Criston, and Aemond in "Fire and Blood". In terms of Daemon and Criston, they rejected Alys advances, and went rushing back to their beloveds - Rhaenyra and Alicent. Criston dies shortly after rejecting Alys, in a desperate suicide rush to rescue Alicent. And Daemon dies at Harrenhal after having a confrontation with Aemond and Alys before his fatal duel with Aemond over the Gods Eye.

The book doesn't go into detail exactly about how Alys seduced Aemond or by what means she did it. But it is accounted as strange and really out of character for Aemond (in universe). After making Alys his submissive bed slave after taking Harrenhal, Aemond starts acting weird and psychotic. Then, he basically desserts the Greens and the War, leaving both Criston and Daeron high and dry. Aemond decides not to rescue Alicent and Helaena like Criston is desperately urging him to. Instead, Aemond decided to take Harrenhal for himself and basically become a sort of defacto king/warlord.

So, Criston abandons Aemond and Alys to take what men they have left to go and try and rescue Alicent. Meanwhile, Aemond and Alys begin a destructive and devastating reign of terror through the Riverlands, buring alive any Blacks in their castles and keeps. Making Daeron and Criston, basically, the last men standing for the Greens. And when Criston is killed, it all falls on Daeron as the last of the Greens. And my boy, Daeron, becomes MVP of the Dance - he just wants his mommy back!

The theory is that Alys sees Aemond in the same light as Melisandre sees Stannis and Jon Snow. There's some sort of bigger destiny or importance to Aemond's blood and legacy that Alys takes upon herself to preserve by having his son.

The most popular theory is that Alys and Aemond are the direct ancestors of Catelyn and it's through the wedding of Ned and Catelyn, the blood of Wargs and dragons, that gives Bran his ultra Three Eyed Raven powers.

There's actually no scenes of Aemond and Helaena ever interacting, despite them dying the same day, with Helaena killing herself the very evening that Aemond is killed. Also there's the strange coincidence of the fact that their two dragons die in a similar way. With Vhagar dying from a large fall and Dreamfyre dying from being pierced in the eye.

But the idea of Alys seducing men by using the faces of the women they love or taking on their attributes comes from both Daemon and Criston's interactions with her in the book, and how both were inspired to go back to Rhaenyra and Alicent quickly after rejecting her. And with Daemon's vision in 2x03, it seems to be a proven theory.

[m1d-45]

Hello! It's a new anon here!

My name is Baby Cat/Out of pocket anon!

If I may, a SAGAU Aether x GN! Reader who has a mortal form that is has similarities to the divine creator but not enough to be confused as an imposter.

I'll clarify a bit, Aether dosent know that his beloved is actually the divine one, but instead thinks that they have simply been blessed with part of their beauty. Tevyat dosent know the creator has descended and is waiting, meanwhile Aether has the creator in mortal form as his darling partner.

-Baby Cat anon

P.S! My cat Duckie has recently warmed up to a new person!

a new tomorrow

a/n: ignore my dogwater schedule i have not written like at all for the past 2-3 weeks ahahah (also this is isn’t very romantic coded but i already hate this piece so my bad g)

word count: ~3k

-> warnings: canon-typical violence, microscopic spoilers for liyue story quest ig

-> gn reader (you/yours)

taglist: @samarill || @thenyxsky || @valeriele3 || @shizunxie || @boba-is-a-soup || @yuus3n || @esthelily || @turningfrogsgay || @cupandtea24

< masterlist > || next part >>

when you’d first arrived in teyvat, you had fully expected to die, in honesty.

you were up on the top of starsnatch cliff, and had nearly fallen off in your initial panic if not for a sharp wind and a lucky break. you were much more mindful of where you walked after that, but mondstat was littered with impossible cliffs, and your memory of the area was sharply diminished when you didn’t have a little circle in the corner of your screen to remind you where you were.

you grabbed a few low-hanging sunsettias as you walked, making your way across a nondescript patch of grass. your plan was to just eat them as-is, but after a moments more thought into the idea, perhaps washing them first would be wiser. according to your memory, there were four main bodies of water: a lake and waterfall further north, the ocean to the east, cider lake to the west, and the state of the seven… somewhere.

the lake was surrounded by hilichurls and was a bit too close to the anemo hypostasis for your liking, the ocean was a no for obvious reasons, and cider lake didn’t seem like a particularly good idea, not to mention the only closest access to it you could think of was surrounded by hilichurls.

so, the statue of the seven it is. the only problem, of course, was that you had no idea where you were.

you tried to keep track at first, but then you had to climb down from one too many cliffs and had to take one too many detours around impossible ones, and now you were blindly walking. you could tell by the dense forest and the small lamp grass that you were somewhere in the whispering woods, but the thin path you were following have no indication of your direction. you hoped, of course, that you were headed north, but you didn’t know how to tell. the three sunsettias in your arms looked more tempting by the minute, but you were determined to clean them first. not only would that help you get your bearings again, but you’d lower the risk of whatever diseases were native to teyvat.

…which was something to consider further, in truth. your body wasn’t native, and hadn’t grown up with and developed an immunity to the bacteria here. would you get sick? had you already, and just had to wait until the symptoms developed? should you be more worried than you were?

the path around you was opening up, but you were too busy worrying to bother look up. what were the long-term effects of staying in teyvat? would you be intolerant or allergic to the foods here, because your body wasn’t used to processing them? what were the long term effects of-

“watch out!”

would you find out at all?

you looked over your right shoulder, at the voice that had called, and barely get a glimpse of bright gold before something white covers your vision, tiny hands pulling at your shirt.

“come on,” a high voice says, “follow paimon! let’s get away from the trouble.”

paimon-?

you stumble along with her, letting her take you further into what you now recognize as windrise. damn, wrong way.

“ooh, are those sunsettias?” you notice she’s blocking my your view of whatever’s behind her, likely the traveller and some enemies if you had to guess, judging by her presence and the sounds of metal on wood. “they look really fresh, too..”

you decide against trying to lean around her. best not to traumatize yourself on your first day. “uh, yeah, they are. would- do you want one?” you hold out one of the fruits. “i haven’t washed them yet, but…”

“oh, that’s okay!” she takes it eagerly, giving it a cursory wipe with her sleeve before taking a bite. “you don’t really need to wash em, in paimon’s experience! just a quick clean of any dirt and you’re all good to go!”

…that was stellar to hear.

you patiently wait, pretending the grunts and roars and sounds of clashing weaponry don’t exist. you try to offer paimon another sunsettia, since you know in-lore she’s almost always hungry, but she shakes her head.

“one for paimon, one for you, and one for the traveller! that way, everyone gets the same amount, and nobody’s upset!”

you don’t know how to feel about the fact that she addresses him as ‘the traveller’. on one hand, it makes sense she wouldn’t throw his name around like that. on the other, it feels… wrong. not in a way you can put a name to, but something about it is unsettling.

“did they offend you, or something?”

you startle, looking up, and see aether standing right in front of you, flipping through some hilichurl masks in his hands before passing two off to paimon, who puts them in a cloud of stars.

he looks at you expectantly, and you realize you had been frowning at the food in your hands. “o-oh! no, they.. sorry, i was lost in thought.”

he dismisses the rest of the masks into gold sparks with a nod. “are you alright?”

paimon gasps, hands over her mouth as she flies back a little. “oh, paimon forgot to ask! are you hurt at all? you don’t look like you’re from here…”

you flash her a smile you hope covers the change in topic. “i’m fine. and thank you,” you turn to aether, “your help is greatly appreciated-…” what do you address him as? you’ve technically never met, but to call him an honorary knight is probably unwise…

“the traveller is fine,” he says. “and you didn’t answer paimon’s question.” rats. “are you from teyvat?”

you hesitate, but eventually shake your head. “i’m not.”

he frowns. “how’d you get here?”

“i don’t know.”

“..you don’t have anywhere to stay, do you?”

oh no. you recognize that voice. “it’s fine, you don’t have to worry about me.” you glance around, eventually pointing at mondstat. it’s stunning in person, even from a distance, but you push past its beauty to talk. “there’s a city there, right? i’ll make do.”

“now’s a tense time, even mondstat isn’t as welcoming as usual.”

‘tense’? you don’t remember mondstat being involved in any scandals, and the skies seem clear, so you must be past the mondstat part of the story… “is something wrong? wait, don’t answer that; if it’s tense, then you surely have somewhere more important to be, right?”

paimon huffs. “paimon bets you’re broker than the tone-deaf bard!” wow, okay. “and a single sunsettia doesn’t get you far!”

aether raises a brow. “‘single’?”

“right!” you hurriedly pick the larger of the two, holding it out to him. “as thanks. she’s right, i don’t have any mor- uh, any more to give you, but it’s the least i can do.”

he shakes his head. “keep them. now, regarding your housing-“

“i can stay in mondstat-“

“the entirety of teyvat is on edge right now. the chances of an outlander being welcomed without hassle is low, even for mond.” he thinks about it, paimon mirroring the hand on his chin.

you try to think over the lore, attempting to remember something that could affect the entirety of teyvat. maybe you’re in the middle of the liyue quest? but why would he be in mond… unless you’re beyond the known lore, but in that case he has even less of a reason to be here, and not wherever the crisis is. not that that’s his obligation, of course, but given the trend-

“what’s your name, by the way?” you give it, and he frowns. “ah, that won’t do.” what. “i.. i don’t know about where you’re from, but where i’m from and here in teyvat, there’s a prominent religion that spans nearly the entire world here. this faith is the cause of the conflict i was talking about earlier.”

your heart picks up, and you pray it’s just some weird quirk of the lore you haven’t gotten to yet. maybe something with the heavenly principles? celestia? you regret not reading up on more of the lore now that you’re face to face with potentially a large part of it. “and?”

“you share the name with the primary god.” please don’t be what i’m thinking of, please don’t be- “the people of teyvat are rather protective of their creator, and doubly so now that their presence has gone missing.”

shit.

your mind flashes to all the sagau you’ve indulged in, to the break you’d taken a few days ago because your game had been acting up and you didn’t want to make whatever glitch it was worse in fear of losing your progress.

“oh,” is all you can say.

living with aether is easier than you thought it would be.

by the time you wake, he’s out working for the guild, leaving you and most of the realm within to yourself. you try and be useful by tidying up, but tubby keeps most of the realm clean, so there’s little for you to really do. there’s rooms that weren’t in the game—likely because this is his personal realm—such as a massive library and big sunroom, and you pick through the former on occasion. there’s books about everything, from encyclopedias on flowers in sumeru to the types of silk used in inazuman clothing. everything you don’t understand or want clarification on is bookmarked, and after he’s come home and rested, you both talk about them over dinner.

sometimes he knows the answers to your questions. other times you write them down on a slip of paper, and he takes a detour that day to ask. even if it’s something from a nation he hasn’t visited yet, he somehow finds the answers, returning to you with a longer sheet as he explains. you don’t ask where he got it, nor why he’s so willing to entertain your surely silly questions, but it probably has something to do with the fact that you didn’t fish up a companion that could answer all of your questions about a world you didn’t know deeper than surface level.

similarly, the transition in your relationship was also smooth, so quiet you almost didn’t notice it was happening. it was just so easy to be around him, your familiarity with him outside of the game and implicit reliance on him as an outlander during the mess of teyvat making him easy to talk to.

you didn’t notice when you started greeting him with hugs more often, nor when you started eating side by side at the table, talking about more than just the books. you told him about your world, and he spoke of his, telling you beautiful stories of his sister and their travels.

(“every world i’ve been to has worshipped the creator in one way or another,” he says, pushing his empty plate to the side. “does yours really not?”)

(you make the choice to set aside the many religions on earth. “we don’t,” you say simply, and he frowns, resting his chin in his hand.)

(“how interesting…”)

once he was confident that you knew enough of teyvat and it’s people, he began to take you on his commissions. the realm within was nice, and tubby held good conversation, but cabin fever began to set in after a month or so. he held your hand as you walked, steering you out of the way of monster camps or other adventurers. he didn’t dare bring you on the ones requiring fighting, but you’d helped find lost keys or fallen boards, paimon always certain to pull you away from battle, distracting you with a chat about whatever meal aether would make later.

(“do you guys always cook? doesn’t adventuring pay well?” you asked once, trying to remember how much commissions earned in terms of mora. you never really kept track, nor did you try and figure out how much it was to buy food from places, but surely…)

(“mostly! mora typically goes to either ingredients or first aid supplies. paimon’s thankful he’s a good cook, it’d be impossible to survive otherwise.” she said it so simply, as if it was an easy fact and not awful that they couldn’t afford to eat out even after everything they’ve done.)

(“that’s terrible…”)

(“its not that bad! you’ve tasted his cooking before, it’s great!” that’s true, but- “besides, it’s been getting better recently. with the creator absent, he’s able to take the commissions himself. though it is nice, it’s still worrying they haven’t come back..”)

(the idea that you’ve been indirectly contributing to their situation makes you a bit sick.)

the three of you were walking through liyue, heading for the last commission of the day. shitou, the jade betting guy, needed more ores for his business, and aether was leading you through the city. he’d chosen the waypoint on the western side of the harbor so you could walk through the city, and you were happy he did.

it was so beautiful in person, the buildings and bridges so much more ornate than their models could do justice. the streets were crowded, but you weren’t overwhelmed when aether was beside you, pointing out a jewelry store or a traveling merchant showing off bright balloons to children. you passed one man holding a conversation with a millelith soldier, who was his brother judging by the informal way they spoke and the mentions of shared relatives. you crossed the bridge leading to the eastern half of the harbor, the smell of something sweet and flowery drifting in the air.

“is there a flower shop around here?” you ask, and aether shakes his head, pointing at a building you vaguely recognize.

“there’s a tea house there, and they specialize in rose tea. we could pick up some if you wanted to try it?”

“that’s fine, i was just wondering. i wouldn’t want you to buy something for me if i didn’t like it.”

he stayed quiet, but you could tell he was still thinking about it. “what’s the appropriate way to brew it… wait, do we even have a teapot?”

“i’d hope so, otherwise you’ll have a lot to explain to the adepti.”

he bumps your shoulder as you both begin to turn toward shitou, but you see he’s smiling. “you know what i mean, not that kind of-“

“teapot?”

your steps stopped suddenly, the new voice one you regrettably recognized.

aether turned, greeting zhongli with a smile and a small wave. “not the realm within, don’t worry.”

“that’s good to hear. i’d hate for it to be causing problems.” his eyes flicked to you, seeming to search for something. “and your friend?”

it was weird, the way he looked at you, and aether seemed to pick up on it, stepping forward a bit to block you while also making it seem like he was just turning to face zhongli better. “just someone helping me out. what are you doing out here, don’t you have a shift at the parlor?”

bless aether and his ability to direct conversations, bless him and the speed with which he reminds zhongli of the necessary urgency when working at the funeral parlor, successfully sending the man on his way, even if he gives you another searching look as he does.

“sorry,” aether said, giving your had a squeeze as he approached shitou’s table. “he’s probably cautious because you look like the creator.”

you return it, staying quiet as he hands over the jade and only speaking up once the two of you turn around towards the closer waypoint. “it’s alright. thank you for talking to him.”

he flashed you a smile, putting one hand on the waypoint. “of course. it’s the least i could do.”

liyue fell away in a flash of white, the familiar music of the realm within washing away any lingering feaf or unease from talking to zhongli.

maybe one day you’d come clean, stop lying about reading information from his library. maybe you’d tell him, maybe you’d confess to how crystalflies always seemed to follow you, the wind always at your back.

“what would you like for lunch?” aether called, pulling down ingredients from various cabinets before you even answer because he knows what you’ll say.

“surprise me,” you reply, and he chuckles. the same answer, every time, and every time he manages to find something new to make you.

today you would keep quiet again, as you had every other day. today you would root through the pantry when he forgot the flour, today you would set the table and pull out some paper, asking him about whether or not they had silkworm farms if silk flowers were so common, at least in liyue.

today he would smile, and today he would answer, and maybe tomorrow you’d tell him something he couldn’t reply to.

but that was tomorrow. and this was today.

[ily-fictional-women]

Bloody but Beautiful

Summary: The night can bring in many dangers, many monsters, and many realizations. 

Pairing: vampire!Kate Bishop x fem!reader

Warnings: Talks of blood, minor implications of abuse, and a small dash of spice

Word count: 1448

a/n: Been gone for a long time lol. Was at a mental health low, got good, had my birthday, and got broken up with. Anyways, I’ve been obsessed with Interview with a Vampire so ya’ll are getting a vampire au! (Reblogs are welcome and critiques/advice are heavily encouraged, but please no translating.) 

Kate stands at the top of the rooftop listening for any type of commotion. But the thumping hearts coursing with rich red blood are too distracting. It’s been over a month since she treated herself to any good blood. Animal blood works. But it can only keep the urges down for so long. Tonight is the night, she's sure of it. 

Or, that is until she smells a familiar scent. “What are you doing here Y/n?” Y/n lets out a dramatic groan before laughing a little, “I swear Kate, I’m gonna be able to jumpscare you eventually.” Kate keeps her view on the city, “You are welcome to try. Again though, why are you here Y/n?” 

Y/n moves closer to Kate, wrapping her arms around her neck from behind and resting her chin on her shoulder, “Before Clint left he emphasized it was good to not go on patrol by yourself. And you weren’t at your apartment.” She’s too close Kate thinks to herself. 

It’d be so easy to do a quick turn and take a drink from her pretty neck. But her phone buzzes with a police alert before she can give too much thought to the idea of draining one of her closest friends. Y/n moves her gaze to Kate’s phone, “What is it?” 

“Hostage situation not too far from here, the tracksuit mafia is holding a few girls. Did you bring your knives?” Y/n lets go of Kate quickly flashing one of her many daggers with a grin, “Did you bring enough arrows?” Kate rolls her eyes at the tease, “Always.” 

//

Y/n takes out an electric arrow drawing it back and releasing it to take one of the guards at the front entrance. “That should be the last one on the outside, you ready to go in?” Y/n gives her an affirming nod. Kate takes another arrow shooting it to create a zip-line. 

Making it across the way the two observe the scene through the glass rooftop. If it weren’t for Y/n being here this could be quick for Kate. She could use her strength to easily knock out all the men. Then used her speed to bring the girls to safety, leaving her enough time to drain at least three of the men and dispose of the bodies before any police would find the girls safe. 

But, she also does love a challenge. “Looks like there’s about seven of them on the inside, three with guns all aimed at the girls. Four with bats or crowbars. How do you want to do this Kate?” 

“I’ll use a few of my smoke arrows giving us enough time to get in. You take out the ones without guns with your knives, I’ll use my arrows to get the ones with guns. But I’ll need you to get the girls out of there before I tie them up just in case one of them gets up. Just in case any backup arrives.” 

Y/n looks at Kate with slight concern, “Are you sure you can handle them all?” Kate grins assuringly, “I’ll be fine, are you ready?” With Y/n nodding Kate breaks the glass of the rooftop the sound already triggering the tracksuit mafia to look up. Quickly shooting a few smoke arrows though and their vision is compromised. 

Y/n drops down first based on the memory of where each man was she throws her first knife in the direction of a man with a crown bar. Hearing a loud yelp once the knife made contact she ran in the direction being able to see him from behind she put him in a chokehold long enough for him to pass out. 

With Y/n now occupied Kate aims from the rooftop as the smoke starts to clear. Before the men can start shooting she draws her arrow making sure to not aim at any lethal areas for the men. She shoots two in the shoulder with tranquilizer arrows. Then the last in the foot with a glue trap arrow. Using another arrow to knock the gun out of his hand. 

As the smoke fully clears Y/n looks up at Kate as she begins to untie the girls, “Everyone’s out like a little kid. You can come down.” Making her way down Kate gives Y/n a serious look as she unties the last girl, “You should go right now. They probably already called for backup. Get them as far away as possible, okay?” 

Y/n hesitates for a moment, “Fine.” As she leaves with the girls Kate knocks out the man she stuck with the glue trap. Beginning to pile them up so it would be easier to tie them together Kate pulls out a knife from one of the men Y/n took down licking the blood clean off of it. 

The rich taste was definitely something incomparable to animal blood. She can feel her fangs start to slip out, but she manages to control herself tying up the rest. Making her way outside she hears some yelling in a nearby alleyway. Taking a quick peek she sees a man yelling at a woman. Then he slaps her.

Wasting no time Kate uses her speed to take the woman a few blocks away noticing bruises all over her. Some old. Some new. Making her way back to the man before he could even notice the woman was gone she used her strength to toss him so hard into a nearby dumpster it leaves a dent in it.

She picks the man up by the jaw lifting him to his feet. He groans in pain, “What the fuck are you.” Kate slams him down on the ground, “Someone just trying to good. You on the other hand. You’re a monster.” She draws out her fangs, “I don’t like monsters.” Lifting him up again she sinks her teeth into his neck sucking out his blood, draining him dry. 

As she drops the man feeling satisfied she looks up to see Y/n her mouth agape. Panic immediately rises in Kate, “Y/n I- I can explain. Just don’t-” Y/n cuts her off. “You’re beautiful.” Y/n looks at Kate admiringly. Covered in blood, the moonlight giving it a slight shine. Y/n repeats again moving closer to Kate resting a hand on her bloodied cheek, “You are beautiful.”

Kate leans into Y/n’s touch, “You’re not scared?” Y/n leans closer to Kate her lips only a breath away from hers. “How could I be afraid of a beauty like yours?” Kate closes the space between them the kiss slick with blood. As things became more heated Kate pulls away looking at Y/n, her lips now tinted with red. 

“So you knew? And you don’t care?” Y/n wraps her arms around Kate once more, “No I don’t care, and I assumed you were either a vampire or a narcoleptic recluse with a hobby of archery.” 

Kate giggles kissing Y/n again, pulling away for a breath Y/n smiles. “How about we clean this up,” she gestures to the man on the ground, “then you take me back to your apartment.” 

“Deal.” 

//

Tossing their gear on the floor not wasting any time getting into the apartment Kate pushes Y/n against the entrance door kissing her like she needed it live. As Y/n’s hands move to grip at Kate’s waist Kate's hands wander up to the zipper of Y/n’s jumpsuit. 

Tying the top half around her waist her sports bra exposed, but more importantly, her neck exposed. Y/n pushed Kate away for a moment, guiding her to sit down on the couch. As Kate sits she watches as Y/n takes a seat on her lap. She rests her hand on Kate's cheek again lightly brushing her thumb.

“You can take a small drink, if you want.” Kate squits her eyes for a second, “You trust me enough for that?” Y/n nods and Kate begins kissing her again. But slower this time, as her hands move across Y/n’s body she moves her lip’s attention from Y/n’s lips to her cheek, then her jaw, but as she reaches her neck she pauses. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes, I’m sure.” At the confirmation, Y/n can feel Kate’s fangs slowly enter her neck. The feeling causes a sense of excitement to swell inside her. This blood was different for Kate though, it was so much better. Blood always tasted good, but blood with lust– no. Love, rushing through it. It’s a rich delicacy. A delicacy Kate could get used to. 

[userautumn]

You are always 100% right and valid btw. Because like buck and Tommy are broken up, but you also have several interviews released today where Ryan calls Buck and Eddie “brothers” and where Oliver explicitly says Eddie is straight so they will most likely continue to be just friends. So if it wasn’t for Buddie, what was the point in throwing away a relationship the audience was actually behind??

Yeah, this has always been my problem with the idea of Buck and Tommy breaking up and, now that it's happened, I can finally unload all my thoughts.

Listen, my Buddie mutuals are very assured that Buck and Eddie will get together and have this lush and beautiful arc where they settle into a relationship and feel out the kinks in their dynamic and really blend together, and I respect that. I would love to see that happen. But I don't have that same confidence. Don't get me wrong, I DO think Buck and Eddie will probably get together, I just don't think it's going to happen until the last episode of the last season in a way that's more reminiscent of Johnlock "canon" (for those who did not watch BBC Sherlock: John and Sherlock continued to live together and raise John's daughter, but this was revealed in a montage without ever actually seeing them get together, or confirm that they were in a romantic relationship) than anything.

Why? Well, because it's easier to tease your audience than it is to follow through.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Tim is teasing the fandom in a malicious way, and—if nothing else—I know he is very aware of what these boys and the implication of their relationship means to people. 9-1-1 has always handled their relationship with a particular gravitas, and I don't see that changing now. But Tim has been writing Buck and Eddie for years. He knows what gets people going, he knows what this fandom likes to see, and what they'll read into. So why would he rush into making them "endgame," especially if he knows he already wants to take them in that direction? He has no incentive to make it happen Right Now because everyone will lap up what he puts out anyway.

And I get it, because I do love Buck and Eddie's relationship. I love the way they interact with each other and, yes, I will lap up any scene between them. But that's the part I find so draining too. I'm going to be honest, I've never liked a "will-they-won't-they" couple. As a personal preference, I've always liked to have a clear vision of a story's trajectory when I go into it. That's how I write, and that's what I gravitate toward in fiction. So the idea of going through any number of love interests until Buck and Eddie are "ready for each other" (so sick of that phrase. sob.) is literally... exhausting to me, and not in a fun way. Because this is a loop that could theoretically continue on, and on, and on, until whenever the powers that be decide enough is enough.

Sure, Eddie is happy and free now. Great. But he still doesn't know he's Queer. What happens when he does realize that? Does he need to date a guy first in order to be "ready" for Buck? Similarly (because their romantic arcs always run parallel to each other), when Buck fucks and sucks his way through Los Angeles, does he stumble upon a hot girl/guy and date her/him until Eddie's "ready" for him? How many times, exactly, am I going to sit through another love interest until they're on the same page after, by my count, three false starts? You know?

I'm obviously along for the ride. Always have been, always will be, and I fought too hard over the summer to maintain my love for these boys and their relationship to let it waste away now. But I desperately, desperately need Tim to give me something substantial that CLEARLY, and EXPLICITLY indicates IMMEDIATE strides toward ROMANTIC Buddie Canon. And I mean crystal clear. Not "building a thousand words of meta off a single line/moment" clear. Not "this look probably definitely means Eddie was thinking about ripping Buck's clothes off" clear. I mean, I want it so damn clear, a sixty-five year old grandpa with cataracts can see it.

Otherwise I'm just going to get really annoyed.

[literatureloverx]

HIII>< Good day to you my dearest🤗🤗 Have you eaten? Drink? If not then please do! I know I said It might not be able to interact with you but like the weather is so bad in my country(there's like three storm rn), also some volcanic activities and some freaking illness going around rn😭😭 Whatever spiritual power there is hates my country cause what is this😭😭. Anywayyyy, I lost track again°>° well uh I just got suddenly curious on how, when, where fyodor and his darling got married. Like what was the process of it, the preparation, the people invited and such. I'm imagining it as somewhat very private event and very intimate (It's fyodor obv) Probably not a lot of people invited. It'll obviously be in a cathedral of sort with a priest and such. Ohh now I wonder how it'll work considering different cultures and religions (of darling). Like in my culture you can invite the whole village! Your distance cousin's friend might even be there😆 I'm kinda exaggerating but it does happen. Also the wedding clothes of darling and Fyodor! Ahhh I'm imagining Fyodor rn🥰🥰🥰

Also I'm really really sorry🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️ for overwhelming you with my ask! Well that's the end of it! Ig??? I'm going to do my projects now... Thank you for listening to my yapping and being so kind! 🫵❤️❤️❤️Truly you are amazing. I hope you have/gotten a good day🙏

Sincerely —🧛🏻‍♀️🫀Anon

Good day, my love, 🧛🏻‍♀️🫀-anon! ♥️ I’m doing well and hope the same for you. Please take care—it sounds truly concerning. 🥺

Regarding your request, I must admit I never thought about it either, lmao. By the way, you can invite the whole village in my culture too—though I wouldn’t do that! 😭 Close family and friends are all I need. ♥️ I wrote some headcanons, I hope you enjoy reading them!♥️

Also, I’ve come up with pictures for my 🍷💝-anon who needs visualizations.

Fyodor x ideal type fem!darling, marriage, wedding, visualisation, religious themes etc.

Fyodor & his darling’s wedding

The process would be very thorough, with high security measures and many people involved in the preparations.

As Fyodor’s little princess and soon-to-be bride, you won’t experience any discomfort because of it.

There will be plenty of people handling the arrangements for you.

All you need to do is relax, choose your wedding gown, select your jewelry from the exquisite vintage pieces Fyodor orders from around the world, and provide your preferences for the cake flavors and the flowers.

You’ll only need to engage in the preparations that interest you—your fiancé ensures that you’re always comfortable with everything that’s happening.

I don’t see either of you inviting many people due to security measures, and honestly, Fyodor has no one to invite.

So, it will likely be just the two of you, your close family (such as your parents and siblings), and the priest along with the staff who will be serving you.

Since you’re marrying Fyodor, it will naturally be very intimate and private. We can’t expect much glamour or razzamatazz.

The vows would be exchanged in the cathedral, and later you’d move to a medieval-themed setting for the wedding celebration.

There, you’d enjoy a meal and your wedding cake. Perhaps you might even dance to your favorite waltz—who knows?

Considering different cultures and his ideal type, your darling, being introverted and easygoing, would likely embrace Fyodor’s vision of their wedding.

This means there might be no village invitations, which could seem a bit sad, but it’s all part of Fyodor’s unique way of doing things.

~

Those are elegantly feminine. Fyodor would certainly admire the lace, as it’s traditionally seen as a symbol of femininity—something he would appreciate for its delicate beauty and timeless charm.

Those gowns are fine, but they show the maximum amount of flesh permissible for a cathedral setting, especially when marrying a traditional, possessive man like Fyodor.

You’d definitely need a veil if you choose to wear such a wedding gown.

Fyodor could wear just about anything, but here are some classic groom outfits. I can definitely see him opting for the white one, as most of his clothing is white and he associates himself with the color.

However, the darker outfit could also suit him, especially considering the official picture of him in a fancy dark-colored tuxedo.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow

[oceansssblue]

From the stuck in a snowstorm Christmas prompt:

Can I get Rex X Male Reader where they get separated from Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan during a mission and are forced to hide in a cave till the storm ends please?

Male Reader is injured from saving Rex’s life from a droid attack and Rex is using all his willpower to not think about what would have happened if he lost him.

The angst buildup to confessing your feelings is the best type of word food.

Your wishes are my orders... Let's jump with the prompt number 9 (stuck in a snow storm) rn! 🫡

I write original ideas but I swear I like the classics and basics so much too... 🤪

Enjoy!

Xx, Blue. 💖

PS. For those who may be wanting to do a request, I'm leaving you the list of prompts at the end of this oneshot if you want to check it out. I also accept your own request ideas as long as it's xmasy.

"THE MOST IMPORTANT THING" – REX / MALE READER 💔💖

WARNINGS: fleeting mentions of wounds & blood. Thoughts about almost losing someone. Snow storm & freezing temperatures. Comfort & first kiss.

Rex can barely see what's five steps ahead of him. Even with the improved vision provided by his helmet, the blizzard makes everything blurry; a white picture of snow that would have been beautiful if it hadn't turned into a storm –and Rex needn't to make his way across it in order to get to safety–. His objective is to find cover in the mountains; but even if they appear to be close in distance, it's not an easy task to acomplish. He has to fight each step of the way; his lower legs sinking on the snow as he walks and making it incredibly tiring to advance forwards. He can't stop, though. You can't.

You're injured; arm drapped over his shoulders and finding strength in the Force to not let yourself drop unconscious. It's tempting; but you refuse to succumb to blood loss and fatigue. You refuse to be a dead weight for the captain to carry. You know he's worried enough as it is.

All four Jedis assigned to this mission had worn some sort of armour for the 501st, 212th, and 464th's batallions relief; but armour isn't undestructible, and it doesn't completely cover one's body. There's always vulnerable spots required for movility; and a droid had managed to get you on one of those. By pure luck, the captain is sure. Tinnies can't aim with that sniper-like precision. It's why so many of them are needed to make one clone's work.

Even with three battalions meshed together, the army sent by the Separatists had been massive. The fight had prolonged for over a week; and at one point, Rex had been surrounded by ten droids at once. Trying to command his men at the same time, making his orders known over the sound of blasterfire and explosions, he hadn't noticed a droid attacking him from his dead angle of vision; and it was then when you had jumped in to save him. When Rex had twisted around in surprise and had seen the frizzed cloth in the gap between your chest and abdomen plates he had almost pannicked; but you had shot him a calming –and pained– smile and assured him it was just a superficial wound before dodging another attack and pushing forward. Rex had had to force himself to concentrate throughout the rest of the battle. To not think on the implications of your acts; of what could have been.

But here, with none of his men at his sides and no trace of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ashoka –they had all splitted into pairs in order to scout the city after the end of the battle when the snow storm had surprised them–, he has nothing to distract him from said thoughts.

You could have died. Jedi, for all of Anakin's recklesness, aren't inmortal; he could have lost you. Forever; a permanent absense and void in his heart no one would be able to cure. All those little things Rex always looks forward too —a cup of hot chocolate shared after a hard mission, the way your face lit up and innocently waved when you saw him across the hangar, all the little spontaneous trips you insisted for him to acompany you around Coruscant, if only using an excuse to show Rex what life could be outside of war... All of that would dissapear, disolve as if it had never existed; and Rex would be left staring into nothing.

They finally reach the mountains; and after a little while longer, they find a safe spot for them to take refuge in. They almost stumble inside –both of their legs aching and trembling from the cold and effort by now–; but being protected from the harsh and unforgiving wind is an instant relief.

Rex helps you to sit down; and you stretch your legs on the rocky floor of the cave and let him tug you backwards so that your shoulders are able to rest against one of the walls. You're shivering; the freezing temperatures managing to slip under your armour and specially on your vulnerable open spot. It's not all bad, though; you guess that the combination of the quick self-cauterizing blaster shot and the cold have managed to sort of keep the wound in stasis. Your vision is blurry and blackening when you try to move your head around, though; you feel dizzy and weak too. You don't know if it's because the wound, the post-battle fatigue, the cold, or all of them combined.

"General?" You hear Rex's voice ask, and it's only then when you notice his voice sounds too close and clear and realize he has taken off his bucket. "I think you're a step away from frostbite. You should take the armour off; it's so cold it's making you more damage than good at this point, now that we're hiding here".

You nod distractedly. That makes sense, yeah. You move your right hand to the shoulder attachments of your chest plate; but your movements are too slugish to pry the seals apart. The Captain's hands gently tug yours away and he tries to do it instead.

"Let me help you, okay?" He asks, always a bit wary to touch you and cross the line between General and trooper –it had taken a really long time for him not to jump at your ocasional affectionate pat on the shoulder or squeeze on his arms–. "Just try... Try to stay with me, General".

You hum in agreement and close your eyes; following his gentle commands a bit too slow for Rex's taste. He carefully pries each plate from your body and sets it aside; packing it up in the same way all clones do with theirs. You don't even react when your wound is exposed to the cold air; but Rex is quick to cover it with a bacta patch anyways. Then goes the plates of your back; and youre finally left in the soft and comfortable tunic and unders you always wear for the battlefield.

A new wave of exhaustion hits you; and your body slumps forward, only saved from smashing into the ground by Rex's quick hand on your shoulder.

"Hey. Hey, General. Cyare don't... Don't leave me".

You can hear the fear in his voice. The pain. The panic.

Even if it's an almost impossible task, you manage to blink your eyes open if only just for his sake.

"m' not going anywhere, Rex. I just need to sleep" you mumble grogily, trying to control the way your mind spins.

Rex opens his mouth, ready to ask you to stay with him, to not leave him here; but you continue and reassure him.

"This' one of those times you're gonna' have to believe in the Jedi magic. M'not dying. I just need to sleep and connect with the Force".

Rex reluctantly –scared– nods. He knows you had received a different training from Anakin, Ashoka and Obi-Wan; the Jedis he's used to work with. But all Jedis are not the same. While the previous three had grown more focused on how to use the Force to fight, you had cultivated other aspects; telepathy, healing. Kit Fisto had been your master; and though he had definitly teached you the art of the lightsaber, he had also encouraged you to explore your gift for telepathy –he was a powerfull telepath too– and even offered you to spend a few years learning Force Healing under the supervision of Jedi Stass Allie in the Temple. You had once explained to him you were nowhere close to be considered an expert on such themes; but that you could at least accelerate the curative progression of wounds a bit, if only enough to evade the risk of inminent death.

Rex doesn't need your skin to be completely closed and looking as if the shot had never happened; he had enough with avoiding your loss for now.

"Okay" he whispers back with a shuddering breath. "I'll let you sleep, then. Just let me... Let me hold you against me. You're still freezing and I don't want to risk it while we both rest".

"Kay" you mumble in response, closing your eyes again and dropping your head back against the wall. "But hurry up, my brain's fuzzy".

Rex nods and rushes to take his own armour off; staying in his blacks and taking a seat by your side, with his back against the wall. He then burries his thoughts about rules and impropiate gestures and pushes an arm under your knees; the other one around your torso, and then he uses a small burst of energy and tugs you towards him so that you're resting in his lap, between his crossed legs.

You make a little surprised sound; but inmediately melt against him when he pulls a heating emergency blanket from his backpack and places it around your body. You hum feeling gratefull and cuddle closer to his chest; hiding your face in his neck and tugging the blanket closer to try to cover him as well.

His hands give you a soft squeeze. Shortly after, you surrender to unconsciousness.

Rex has a lot of time to think until you wake up again between his arms.

He takes the moment of respite to breathe in your warmth and soothe his stressed mind; his galoping heart. It was terrifying, almost losing you; but you're safe now. Your breathing has eased with time; your deep, pained frown slowly relaxing and an almost peacefull expresion making its way across your face.

It's still a huge relief for him when you groan and open your eyes; blinking slowly to try to make a picture of whats happening and where you are.

Rex only softens his hold on your body so that you can sit down straigther and turn around to face him. You stretch your neck and shoot him a tired but warm smile.

"Hey" the captain rasps. "How are you feeling?"

You glance down at your dressed wound and take a moment to analyse yourself. You're still tired, and your muscles ache, and you're in desperate need of some water and a shower; but here in Rex's lap, you can't help but feel content and safe.

"Better" you decide to answer, smiling softly. "You?"

Rex tries to give you a tiny smile; but it's such a pained, little unsure thing that it tugs at your heart.

"I'm fine" he answers, one of his hands carefully caressing up and down your back under the blanket.

You shove down a pleasant shiver and tilt your head to the side.

"I don't have to be a Jedi to know that's a lie" you tell him cautiously, your own hands travelling down to catch his with yours. "Tell me, if you want?"

Rex stares at you for a few seconds and sighs.

"You shouldn't have jumped in to save me" he starts, glancing down at your hands, unable to hold the weight of your beautiful eyes on his while he confesses this. "You're one in a million. A Jedi General. Hundreds of lifes depend on yours. Mine is replacable. I'm not important, and you..."

"You're the most important thing in mine".

It's soft and sweet; the way you finally tell him what you've been keeping to your heart all this time. What you've been struggling with.

"What?"

Rex has the most cute stunned and confused face you've seen before. His eyes lock onto yours inmediately; almost not believing your words, like needing to check you've really said that to him. That you mean it.

You smile wistfully and squeeze his hands. They're rough, callous formed on the spots where his skin frictions with his favorite pair of DC-blasters; the hands of a soldier that hasn't had the chance to be anything else. It's why you have been trying to show him the rest of the world, the little pleasure that can be found in the simplest everyday things. He deserves it. All his brothers do.

"I have never wanted more than I had" you begin, deciding to finally bare your heart once and for all to him. "All I've ever wanted to do is help others, and I've grown up with that purpose without having nothing else to fight for. Nothing that I wanted for myself. No secret that I had to keep trapped inside ny mind or heart. Yet..."

You reach up to trace reverent fingertips over the captain's cheek. You feel his stuttering breath against your skin; smile at the loving, hopefull way his golden eyes are silently watching you.

"I want to keep you, Rex. Every morning I find myself expectant and tense until I see you in the distance. Everytime we're close, everytime we talk, it fills me with a comforting warmth" your eyes track a sinfull path through his lips. So tempting, so close to yours. You can't help yourself and trace a thumb over them. Rex gasps, and his eyes flicker through your face, his heart filling with devotion and passion too. "I want to burn, though. I've been trying to hold back, but I can't. I want to get closer. I want to kiss you. I want to be able to relax between your arms when everything gets to be too much. You might think that in the grand scale of things you're not important. Perhaps, seing it that way, none of us are. What I can tell you is my personal truth, your spot in my individual scale; and there's no other person I deem as important as you".

You're desperate to kiss him; but you feel like he wants to say something too, so you try to be patient and wait for him.

Rex cups one side of your face in his hand. It trembles. You understand the feeling; and smile encouragingly. You have been worried about mistaking his kidness for something more too; of crossing boundaries. But he has nothing to fear now. Still, you understand. Your heart is speeding up in your chest too; as it does with everything exciting and new. Your feelings for him aren't; but this closeness, the real posibility of kissing him for the first time, is.

"I've loved you for a long time now" he admits, voice gentle and firm despite his own nervousness. "Perhaps for as long as I've been able to understand what romantic love is. I... I'll be happy to have you, cyare. When you need me and when you don't, too".

His words shoot warmth and joy to every cell of your body; a radiant smile perching on your tired face.

"Can I kiss you?" He asks, bringing your face close to his with a gentle tug of your chin.

You smile and sigh.

"Yes..." you whisper over his lips. "Yeah".

THE END.

Didn't I make you two cute? Aaaaah 💖 Hope you like it! Xx, Blue.

Still accepting Xmas requests, you can use any of this prompts (except 9) or one of your own!

[katuschka]

Scene One – Lampshade

Jake Kiszka x f!Reader (1st person narrative)

2.541 words

On my bedside table, I have a beautiful art deco lamp. When my lover leaves, he ties a scarf he wore for days on top. And when he’s gone I let my window open just a bit, the gentle breeze sets the scarf on motion, just like the waves in the tempestuous ocean.  Once or twice, I swear, I could smell him in my dreams.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, intended for adult readers. Any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental. Also, if you're under 18, go find some other entertainment elsewhere.

Warnings: longing, alcohol consumption, penetrative sex, phone sex and masturbation, sex toys, phantasmagorical dream visions

Taglist

It’s been almost three weeks since I last saw him. I’m trying to convince myself that it’s not that bad, but the truth is that I always start missing him the moment he leaves. It’s a bittersweet feeling. I’m a grown, independent woman, engaging in my daily routines...or breaking them, just to stay sane. 

But, it feels as if a part of my soul got attached to him. It travels with him wherever he goes and I feel it tugging at my insides every now and then. At first I thought it was just a side effect of the early stages of falling in love. I believed that it would get easier with time, but it never did. If anything, it only got worse. 

It’s bearable during the day. My mind’s too preoccupied with my job, thank god. It’s not really much different from when he’s here. I still have my work to do and he’s busy too, until we finally meet at home to share a glass of wine or two. And then we fuck.

That’s why early evenings are the worst when he’s away. The house is just too big, too quiet, and my mind too restless. No sound of the strings being plucked greets me when I get home, no smell of savory dishes waiting for me in the oven or on the stove. I’m too lazy to do it myself, so I just order in, only to be reproached by him later that I’m not taking proper care of myself. My lover does all these things. My body’s spoiled with constant hugs and my cheeks peppered with warm kisses. So, on days like these, this is what his lady misses. 

He knows that, so he tries to call anytime he can. It’s easier in between shows. He makes sure to call me around eight, even when it’s already 3 am where he’s at. Him being a night owl, this has never been a problem. Sometimes it’s just a quick hello to make sure I’m ok. Other times we talk for hours. 

I didn’t expect anything like that today. He might call late or not at all. Probably not at all because today’s show was too important. He wanted me there, but I couldn’t go this time. I had an important project to finish and came home pleasantly exhausted. In a perfect world, we would celebrate our respective achievements together, but this world is not perfect, so I have to content myself with the fact that he is. 

Well, not really, but I wouldn’t change a thing about him. 

So, I just poured myself a glass of wine, climbed in bed early and tried to read, only to find myself checking the Instagram updates constantly. I don’t do it very often, because I’m not really keen on seeing hundreds of women swooning over him, but someone might be streaming the show, and I just couldn’t miss it. 

Before he left, he fastened his scarf on my lampshade. That little piece of fabric is basically marinated in his scent – his strong, yet religiously comforting cologne mixed with the warm smell of him. I made sure to leave both the bedroom door and the window open, to create a slight draft. After three weeks, the scent had already faded a bit, but I still could get whiffs of him while falling asleep. Just like today. The livestream I found ended mid-show, but I wasn’t really paying attention anymore. I could feel my eyelids getting heavy long before the concert ended and without even bothering to turn off the light, I fell asleep with my phone still in my hand. 

Except I couldn’t sleep. The thunderstorm in the distance and the billowing wind kept me awake. The sky was clear when I went to bed, so I couldn’t understand where the clouds came from. It didn’t matter anyway. 

He was here. In my bed, sleeping. The intoxicating scent of clove and incense mixed with his musk wrapped around me like a second comfort blanket. The bedside lamp illuminated his disheveled hair and the clothes he had carelessly thrown over the armchair next to the bed. He was naked and all of the sudden, so was I.

It was our bedroom…and it wasn’t. The southern wall was gone, exposing us to the elements outside. Our garden turned to a stony shore, with the waves of a rough sea crashing upon it. Somewhere in the distance, I could see the storm raging.

I was feeling snug under the blanket, the warmth he elicited sheltering me from everything else around. I reached out to touch him. His skin was warm and dry and I snuggled closer to him from behind, inhaling the comforting aroma of his relaxed, sleeping body. 

He never slept much. Sometimes I wondered how he could function after yet another sleepless night, and the dark circles under his eyes often worried me. But when he did fall asleep, he looked like a baby boy, his full lips slightly parted and his brows turned upwards. A man of paradoxes. He would fuck my brains out just moments after he spoon-fed me pistachio ice-cream. My doe-eyed barbarian. A romantic adventure, but a reptile too. Always offering something new. Just like the sky outside, with the full moon now illuminating the stormy sky. Where did it come from? It was hanging there in mid-air in front of the clouds, so big, so close it seemed that I could reach it with my fingers if I just stepped outside of the room. 

But I didn’t want to. Instead, I slowly swirled around him like a serpent. I could feel him stir, his body responding to mine. It was a silent dialogue. He turned to me and pushed my chin upwards to nuzzle the soft skin behind my left earlobe. I could hear him murmur a prayer, the words of which I didn’t recognize, but I understood it anyway. I could feel his hand travel slowly down my belly, pulling my thighs apart, his palm sliding gently to my pussy and his middle finger slipping in between my folds. It’s been too long… My body reacted immediately. I arched my back and gasped for air as his moistened fingertip glided over my clit in slow circles. He kissed my shoulder and I could feel his parted lips stretch in a smile before he nibbled lightly on my skin covered with goosebumps.

He spread my thighs even more, like the petals of a blooming flower. I felt the weight of his body on mine as he shifted, obscuring my view, silencing the wind, his porcelain face dimming all the celestial lights behind him. He was coming home. 

I cried out when he entered me, grabbing pillows on both sides of my head. He, too, yelped like a puppy, laying his head on my bosom just for a while, to gain his composure. I felt every exhale of his quickened breath on my skin, and enveloped his body with my limbs in a false promise to never let go. 

He started moving inside me and I felt absolutely lightheaded, as if we were floating in an empty void. It got darker with each deep, long thrust until time and space around us disappeared and the only thing that tethered me to reality was the rhythm of his beating heart and the alluring sounds of his raspy moans. We moved together languidly, drunk in love, and the waves of pleasure running through my body intensified with each passing second. My fingernails dug into his skin…so deep until he suddenly stiffened and screamed in pain right next to left ear…

…nooo…at first I couldn’t tell where I was or who I was until the sound of my phone ringing on the pillow next to my head slowly brought me back to reality. I couldn’t believe it. What? Why? I looked at the screen and saw the name of the only person whom I could forgive for calling me right fucking now!

“Jake? Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I breathed out. 

A moment of silence before the man on the other side responded. I must have sounded pre-t-t-y irritated. “Babe? Did I wake you up?” 

Of course you did. What day is it? Oh yeah, it was slowly coming back to me. Madison Square Garden… “What time is it?” I breathed out.

“Almost one am here, your midnight. We just arrived at the hotel a moment ago, I haven’t even had a shower yet, I just had to hear…”

“Urgh,” I interrupted him with a groan, not in a reaction to what he said. My still not fully awakened body was just fighting with my mind as I tried to sit. I was still slightly disoriented and my coochie weeped. “I, uhm, I’m sorry baby. I just had a very intense erotic dream…the first one in years. And you just happened to interrupt it at the worst possible moment.”

“Oh, daamn!” he chuckled. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Not funny Jake. No one else but you could ever make me this wet. The sheets below me are literally soaked through.” I heard him inhale sharply on the other side. It took him a few more seconds to respond. “You’re wet?” It sounded a bit like a stifled groan, followed by him clearing his throat. Poor Jake, he was so taken aback by my response that Oliver had to take over. “Thaths probably because I was absolu-te-ly on fire tonight, my love! Telepathy must be one of my many superior powers. Now I need to clean the mess…”

“What do you mean?”

“Phone sex, obviously.” 

I laughed. Nah, I’m not a fan. I love his voice, don’t get me wrong, but it couldn’t possibly make up for all the stuff that my subconsciousness flooded my brain with just a moment ago. Also, I’ve always found the idea of phone sex strangely disconcerting. We could do the most obscene stuff face to face without even batting an eye, but to be describing to him how I’m touching myself? No, thank you. I’d be embarrassed. Don’t know why. That’s just how it is, And that’s what I told him.  

“Oh come on, let’s try it.” Jake was back. “Besides, it’s a mutual obligation now. I’m already hard.” 

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. “Ok Jake,” I crooned monotonously, “what are you wearing?” 

“Oh GOD!” he moaned theatrically. “You sound so sexy when you’re bored. Mmmmm.”

I laughed again, in earnest. “Sorry,” I chuckled. “Ok, let’s try it. But I’m not going to describe what I’m doing. You tell me what to do.”

“Deal.”

I heard his sheets rustle as he shifted on his bed, which meant he already had me on speaker, so I did the same. I adjusted the pillows, stripped off my babydoll and tried to find a comfortable position. “Ok Jake, I’m ready.”

“Good girl. Now, close your eyes and cup your breasts. Let your thumbs draw slow circles around your nipples. No pressure.” His voice suddenly sounded huskier than before. 

“Are you jerking off?” And then I heard it. The unmistakable sound of his fist sliding rhythmically up and down his cock. Of course he was. 

“You can’t blame me sweetheart,” he breathed out. “I got here, still full of adrenaline from the show, only to hear you tell me that I was fucking you in your dreams. I couldn’t wait any longer.” 

The sound of his heavy breath made my pelvic muscles contract and my heartbeat quicken. I licked my fingertips and let my hand slide between my legs, trying to ease the ache. “Talk to me Jake. Forget the nipples. Guide my fingers.”

“Who’s impatient now?” He let out an involuntary moan, swallowed harshly and continued: “Squeeze your clit between two fingers, scissor-like. Now rub from side to side and gently pull.”

I knew what he meant. His technique was completely different from mine and effective in its own way. I never tried to recreate it before. I did now, and it all suddenly came back to me. The dream, his touch, his dick, stretching me, fucking me, our loins dancing together to the rhythm of our heartbeats…

“Not enough,” I whined. “I need more, Jake.”

“Ok, time for Mini Me.”

That was yet another thing my lover did for me. We found a company that makes custom dildos using castings of real customers. Now, a cold piece of silicone can never compete with the real jake, but it was the next best thing whenever I needed to release the tension after a long day. I loved the shape of it. It was mine. I opened the drawer and reached for the toy. “Now what?”

“Ride me,” he groaned. 

“How am I supp…”

“Let’s pretend we fell off the bed.”

“What?”

“Off the bed! Now!” he commanded. I climbed off the bed and attached the dildo to the wooden floor. “Mini Me’s ready. What now?”

“Now sit.”

I did as I was told. I got on my knees, placed the tip between my folds and slowly slid all the way down. Our roles reversed for a brief moment as I was now guiding him through. I heard him spit into his palm and groan with relief. It was his time to take the reins again. “Move,” he rasped. “Grab your hips and pretend it’s me. Set the pace, but tell me.”

I started moving my hips in a slow, sensual rhythm, while whispering up and down and up and down to him. I was now close to my bedside table, the fragrant scarf only a few feet from me. I closed my eyes. The illusion was almost perfect. 

“That’s my girl,” he moaned. “Do you want to go faster?”

“No, this is fine.”

“Ok, continue baby. Let me hear you.”

We continued like that for several minutes, eyes closed, listening to each other. I could hear that he was close as his low moans turned to high-pitched whimpers. My thighs started shaking and I had to catch hold of the bedside table to ease the tension in my legs. I opened my eyes and that’s when I saw it. The multi coloured lampshade. As I was moving, so were the colorful lights before my eyes. It was like being there, under the stage lights, as I was listening to my man. The most beautiful song. It overwhelmed my senses and I came, screaming. From the haze of my own high, I heard him finish shortly afterwards. 

I wanted to hear every detail of his show, and he wanted to know about my project, but we were both already too exhausted, so he promised to call me again in the morning. I knew he would, because that’s what my lover does. 

@its-interesting-van-kleep @takenbythemadness @edgingthedarkness @writingcold @ignite-my-fire @klarxtr @jakekiszkasbuttsweat @fleet-of-fiction @lvnterninthenight @myownparadise96 @GVFstuddedmajesty @josh-iamyour-mama @jazzyfigz @sanguinebats @thewritingbeforesunrise

[inthemaelstrom]

So we're about six weeks out from another "most important election of my lifetime" and it's predictably making me literally sick to my stomach. When Trumpacabra got elected in 2016, I threw myself into politics in a way I never had in my lifetime and it almost wrecked me. I was one of those people who never voted for religious reasons (long, separate story) and I felt I had to make up for lost time. By the time 2020 rolled around, I was an unhealthy mess. I had stopped reading. Everything. When I wasn't watching MSNBC and political commentators obsessively, I started consuming absolute junk TV: home improvement shows, crack paranormal ghost hunter crap, etc. Things with no plot, no emotional investment, no danger. No fear.

Right before the 2020 election, old fanfic friends from my days in the Master and Apprentice Star Wars listserv found me and saved me.

They dragged me back into fandom, introduced me to Discord, and got me writing again. I updated a story I hadn't touched in 5 years. I made new friends online and in RL. I got some great fiction and fic recs from those friends and discovered a subgenre called Hopepunk—low stakes fiction with very little if any violence and fear and with happy endings. (Becky Chambers writes a lot of what I read, and Amy Crook has also become a favorite.)

One morning, I had one of those really vivid, realistic, linear plot dreams that literally dragged me out of bed to the keyboard. It was a meet-cute modern au of The Phantom Menace's characters, set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I cranked out about 2000 words the first day. Then another 2000. Then another 2000. Then another 2000. And so on every damn day for the next four years until I had four novels, about 668k words, several timestamps written by three other collaborators who've come on board, some beautiful art I've been allowed to use, and now a fifth book in the works.

This is the Yooperverse.

It's not just The Fic That Saved Me, it's the place where I'm writing a vision of what the world could be like into being. A place where people with fucking obscene amounts of money don't spend it on themselves, or hoard it, or exploit other people to get more, but use it to help other people. It's a place where people who are bigoted dicks either get their comeuppance and crawl back under their rocks, or learn better and do better. It's a place where abused kids get rescued, everybody gets therapy and healthcare and is paid a living wage, people learn to value themselves and each other, and protect each other and defend each other. It's kinky and queer (although I'm neither) and above all, if not entirely safe to be both, I'm trying to write both things as just being another setting on the dryer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's not a utopia, by any means, because there are still assholes and the government is still ... the government, and capitalism is still a thing. There's some danger, especially in the first book, and there are accidents and illnesses and the vagaries of life. In the middle of the series, I had spinal surgery and was out of commission for a few months and that made me start thinking more about my main character dealing with aging and the limitations thereof. There's a LOT of mental health issues and the working through thereof, and a lot of ongoing process. Nobody's perfect. The world outside is still pretty much what it is. But in the little corners where my characters dwell, life is pretty dang good, sometimes great.

It's a vision of a life we all deserve. It's the thing I loved about Star Trek's universe, where people's basic needs are cared for and the obstacles to them developing their best selves removed. It's what I've loved about science fiction in general, especially Ursula LeGuin's: that opportunity to explore possibilities that are better than the present. It's modeled on the MacArthur Genius grants, but you don't have to prove your worthiness first. My main character invests in people's potential, young or old, with scholarships and grants and a steadying hand. His partner builds low or no-cost housing for people in need. There's an informal network of queer and straight kid rescuing going on under the noses of unfriendly governments and failed social service safety nets. The main characters build refuges, literal and emotional. They love each other fiercely and respectfully.

Right now, we're living in a country that is almost the antithesis of these ideas, for far too many of us. People are being manipulated by their fears, which are stoked by unscrupulous, lying shitbag politicians whose all too real evil would never make it past the pitch if you were going to try to sell it as a TV show or movie. They're consciously turning us on each other with lies about our common humanity, about the state of our country, about who and what's responsible for many of its faults, sewing suspicion and hate. And though the Yooperverse started as my personal comfort fic, I'm trying in my very small way to counteract what's happening in the world right now.

I've always believed in the power of story to change people's minds and lives, and I've experienced it myself. When I talk about story, I don't just mean fiction, though. I mean the narratives we tell ourselves and others about our own lives as a whole and day by day or moment by moment. I mean the stories we tell about each other when we're together, at the bar, at wakes, at a party. I mean the stories we invest in as fans in whatever kind of media we consume. I mean the stories we spin for ourselves and others to explain what the everloving fuck is wrong with the world.

Stories aren't separate from the world, they are the world. They tell it into being. They give it shape and purpose and meaning and a sense of possibility. Whatever stories we tell ourselves or each other about how things should be or how we should act as human beings (also called our "beliefs" or "morals" or "ethics"), they shape us, and we shape society. We are society, both together and as individuals. One person with a big voice and a story can tip a mass of people into either violence or solidarity.

I have no illusions that the Yooperverse will ever have that kind of power. It has a tiny audience on AO3 and Discord and it's mostly written for me to explore the things I feel deeply about, and wish I could do, and to teach myself to be a better person and live up to my own ideals. It's a world I'd like to manifest, to call into being, even in a small way. Even if it's just a story.

[yazthebookish]

I posted my take on the Lightsinger theory and Gwyn's "luring" powers theory on Reddit two days ago but thought I'll reshare it here (with some additional thoughts)

The only canon information we have on Lightsingers:

Nesta winced. Cassian went on as she scanned the bog, "There are lightsingers: lovely, ethereal beings who will lure you, appearing as friendly faces when you are lost. Only when you're in their arms will you see their true faces, and they aren't fair at all. The horror of it is the last thing you see before they drown you in the bog. But they kill for sport, not food."

Does this correlate with anything Gwyn did in ACOSF? The answer is no.

I am not saying it is impossible for her to be a Lightsinger though where things stand it's unlikely in my opinion, but I'd attribute any potential powers either singing or glowing to her River Nymph heritage. We have no idea of her powers and she's also half High Fae of course she'll have powers like every other High Fae.

I think a lot of the "canon evidence" are different interpretations of the text but sometimes try to present itself as concrete evidence or proof when it isn't. Some attribute her singing during the services as the cause to Nesta having vision of the Prison and the Harp, but that also means we will have to ask what connection is there between Lightsingers and the Prison/Harp? And some believe it's the lyrics that trigger the vision as they're written in the ancient language and "Nesta saw what the song spoke of". Some believe Nesta power reacting to the crackling energy around Gwyn is a sign that she is a Lightsinger, but like... that's an indicator she has powers just like how Nesta in a later chapter felt Merrill's ornerry power. How is crackling energy means it's a Lightsinger when we never saw them? Powers recognize each other sometimes, just like how Feyre was surprised when Eris was able to detect a cold flame in the Dagger Nesta forged when it was given to him as a gift (like calls to like, Eris also has flame power).

In the bonus chapter, it's described at one point that the Shadows danced with Gwyn's breath as if it heard some Silent MUSIC (emphasis on music and not song). What was referred to as Music between Souls? The mating bond. Interestingly enough it was that same night when Nessian consummated their bond and they were connected by a music between their souls. So that could be a hint, and at the end of the scene Azriel hears a distant beautiful singing and the shadows sing back, hard to tell whether if it's Gwyn, who went back to trying to cut the ribbon, starts to sing or it's also another wording for a hint at the mating bond (also called the Song of the Soul).

I'm more keen to believe it's the mating bond because there are far more parallels and similar mate language to support it across all her three series and if someone is going to tell me "but Lorcan's chest glowed after he took the blood oath from Aelin—" my love context matters in this case and it doesn't invalidate the 10+ examples I can pull out of similar mate language like in the bonus chapter.

To ADD, for Azriel to be lured to the library at 7pm because of said Lightsinger singing, he has to be able to HEAR the singing for the power to influence him and Azriel didn't hear any singing, he was conscious and aware of his actions. It was mentioned Nesta sang with Gwyn at the services frequently and she didn't make any comments on a vision being triggered or her constantly seeking out Gwyn so there are holes in those kind of conclusions—again, because we never see Lightsingers on page.

"But when he arrives to the library it chimed 7pm!! That's when they sing for the dusk service" welp that's another hole in the theory, it depends on Azriel being drawn to the library because of Gwyn's singing but if he showed up at the library and they don't sing until 7pm then before the clock chimes at 7pm, they weren't singing so... not a convincing answer. Also, Clotho is usually seen during those services and Azriel still found her at her desk.

Early on when ACOSF came out, some readers made connections between Lightsingers and Shadowsingers and made the assumption that Lightsingers are the Shadowsingers' Light counterparts. That's why you had people musing about Azriel's mate being a Lightsinger, but canonically Lightsingers are evil once we go back to the text but we don't even see them to know for sure how they wield their powers or if they even sing because Shadowsinger Azriel doesn't need to sing when he uses his power.

In an Elain book (in this scenario it's her and Azriel), I don't see any purpose of Gwyn being revealed as a Lightsinger or anything about her powers because it'll be used as a plot device for an Elain/Azriel romance rather than contribute to Gwyn's own growth and that's why I don't like it. It will have implications on Nesta and the Valkyries dynamic too. If that's the case it will mean Gwyn will need more page time in an Elain and Azriel book to tackle something like that, especially if they're going to "help" her since that's the reasoning I see often—that she's not evil but she doesn't know it and if she did they will help her but like... why? To make her realize she has been keeping them apart or that she wanted a necklace she didn't even have any clue about.

Given Gwyn's history who even at the end of the book said despite training it didn't erase the fact that she let her sister die, she is still dealing with survivor's guilt, she still refuses to wear the priestesses stone, and also her desire to leave the library and see the world (which we didn't see yet). She has a lot of promise as a character than be a plot device for someone else's relationship.

The way I see it, Gwyn's theoretical powers is used to absolve Azriel of any accountability for his actions (ala Necklacegate) because it's not a good look on him, so it's better to pin it on someone else by saying he was lured against his will (since I often see that the reasoning behind her presence in the bonus chapter is to hint at her powers).

So if I have to read about Gwyn dealing with her powers whether they're good or bad, I'd rather see it from her point of view and for it to be beneficial for her own personal arc and healing journey. My problem isn't her having questionable powers (which I don't mind because many SJM characters had questionable powers but used it for good), I don't want it to be used as a plot device for another couple just to smear her as a character and clear the actions of the other male character so his "love interest" doesn't blame him for his actions.

Whew, this was long but I adore Gwyn and I am not a fan of the current version of the Lightsinger theory. I think even if SJM makes it happen, it would probably play out way differently than the fandom expects.

Also, it's not in SJM's style to use other woman drama in her romances. The other women are often 💀 or insignificant past lovers. I don't see her taking that route with Gwyn at all.

She could be half Asteri and I would still love her and be eager to explore her powers and story, I just don't like it being used to further another couple's conflict or whatever (they already have Rhys and Lucien).

And no, I hate the idea of Gwyn being controlled by either Koschei or Merrill because it takes away her agency and the suggestion here is about her doing things that harms others, how will that not have any implications on Nesta and Emerie and the trio's healing journey? Given her own tragic history and the fact that she was helpless and powerless to help her twin sister and she's still dealing with survivor's guilt over it all.

"Why did you sign up for this, then?" Nesta drank the glass Gwyn extended. "If you already have mind-calming exercises you're accustomed to?"

"Because I don't ever want to feel powerless again," Gwyn said softly, and all those easy smiles and bright laughs were gone. Only stark, pained honesty shone in her remarkable eyes.

Her being controlled is putting her in a powerless position again because she has no choice but to do Koschei or "evil" Merrill's bidding that could potentially harm Nesta and the others. I despite it.

And if I have to read about any comparisons between Gwyn and Ianthe as proof that priestesses can be evil, I'll go insane.

Also, if Gwyn's power can influence anyone through her singing, it would've influenced every single person in the services. It would have influenced other members of the IC. This particular theory is weak and depends one interpretation of the text that tries to present itself as evidence of an evil creature that never even shows up on page.

Gwyn wasn't added in the bonus chapter by coincidence. Sarah confirmed she left crumbs all over the book and specifically his bonus chapter, and what we speculate may or may not be confirmed in the next book so you can't dismiss the bonus by saying it has no relevance when the author said she left crumbs for readers to theorize about, which leads me to believe she wants us to come up with different theories until she publishes the next book where we'll know for sure if we nailed it or not.

[jadeazora]

A bit of review/overall thoughts for the Teal Mask.

Overall, a much better attempt compared to DLC1 of SwSh. The Isle of Armor was pretty cool, but the storyline was pretty bland overall. I found the story much more engaging here, especially when we get the true story of what happened between the "Loyal" Three and Ogerpon.

Speaking of the new Legendaries, the L3 are interesting with how much intelligence they show (from knowing how valuable the masks are and traveling across regions to get to Kitakami to clearly planning their revenge on Ogerpon right in front of you and Carmine) and how they might have been corrupted by the Toxic Chain. Ogerpon is also really cute with how much personality she shows. I feel SV really did a great job with bonding us with our Legendary partners overall.

Also with the Loyal Three, there's a number of interesting guesses about how they came back to life. My initial assumption was that it was something like them feeding on Kieran's anger and resentment to reawaken themselves, but there's also the theories that he was possessed by the Toxic Chain (we do see a purple glow travel up his arm during the scene if you pay very close attention, so it's possible this is where he would be possessed) and the rumors of the crystals from the Crystal Pool possibly bringing the dead back to life, since Carmine mentions a rumor where people have met those who have passed away there, and Kieran was hanging around with the Mask that had been imbued with those crystals.

(As an aside, SV has very much of a corrupted wishes vibe, from the Professor and their vision of a utopia would cause an ecological disaster to Paldea, to the Loyal Three wishing for beauty/power/intelligence when they made contact with the Toxic Chain at the possible cost of their morality, and how Kieran wishes to become stronger than the player but falls into his obsession at the end.)

Honestly, Kieran's launched himself into being one of my favorite rivals with the game seemingly building him up as a problem for the Indigo Disk storyline, but it's neat how the siblings undergo a complete reversal with how they view the protagonist. He's also a pretty decent challenge, with a fully-evolved team of six in the low-mid Lv70s all packing held items. (If you're doing this after you completed the main story of SV.) He puts up a much better fight than Geeta does, for sure, and I hope he gets to meet your base-game rivals in the next storyline.

Carmine is also really fun, especially when she starts warming up to us, but I do hope she gets called out for her earlier treatment of her brother, and how she started this whole mess by lying to him. Like, I don't think he would have felt left out by us just randomly running into Ogerpon. We thought it was a child until it dropped its mask, we could have just explained that to him. We're the new kid, how would we know any better or what the ogre looks like? I guess she might have been worried that two little kids would just climb up this dangerous mountain at night, but it still lead to more problems.

I loved Perrin's sidequest too, and hope we see her again in the Indigo Disk! Bloodmoon Ursaluna is so cool (already one of my fave Gen9 Pokemon and regional variants), and can actually give you a pretty fierce battle if you go in with a new team.

Kitakami still feels a little empty imo, just like the base game, but there's a good amount of small caves that sometimes have rare Pokemon inside, and places like the Chilling Waterhead that I wouldn't even know was there if not for Fezandipiti. Some other areas are also visually cool, like the Crystal Pool (interesting to see those crystals from Area Zero are showing up in other regions as well) and the Fellhorn Gorge.

I'm really excited for the Indigo Disk now, like full-on brainrot mode rn, and feel the Teal Mask really does a pretty good job of building up the second part of the DLC with all the little teasers we get. (In comparison, SwSh's DLC felt more separate between the two halves.) I feel they haven't shown much of the story aside (from the BB League/battling stuff), so things are probably going to get pretty crazy, especially with certain things the datamine has given us, in Pt2, and I really can't wait to see what happens next!

[bigblackbbnny]

Somewhere, the sky is blue

✁- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ╰──➢  ✧;── table of contents ──; ✧ ╭       ⁞ ❏. Media ⟶ .·. Arcane Season 2 ┊       ⁞ ❏.Warnings  ⟶ .·. Spoilers, Character Death ┊       ⁞ ❏.Notes ⟶ .·. So I had in mind to write something about the last chapter of act 2, but I've been very busy. I feel like this is too much half-assed and I'm a bit disappointed my creativity has been drowned these years because I'm focusing on art. I love writing, I'm just very hesitant, unsure and have a hard time putting things into words. ┊     ⁞ ❏.Summary ⟶ .·. In the undercity, where the sky is never clear, some colors burn too brightly to fade.

What kind of courage does it take for someone so small to jump into danger's harm? To look at death in the eye and think 'You can take me, but not them. Not them.'

How do you decide someone's life is worth more than yours?

There's laughter somewhere, there's dancing and giggling and bright colorful paint all over the place. There's blue in her hands and red eyes grinning at her. A surprisingly gentle pair of hands combing her hair, a reluctant guardian lingering in the corners, a place to go back to.

But there's also violence, outside. Just right out the door amidst polluted air, cold glares and souls filled with powerlessness and resentment.

They deserve to know too, that there's more to it than gloomy streets and aching bellies if you find a reason to look forward to another day. To keep moving on.

The feeling was something warm, like the sunlight Piltover took for granted. And there was blue and pink hues so beautiful that could overwhelm you. It was warm and then it was fierce and burning, because whatever you are given can be taken. Whatever you protect can be harmed.

Isha had never been afraid of broken things. She touched everything like it was alive—like it was worth saving. Jinx had taught her how to use a wrench, how to make bombs, how to turn a room into an explosion of pigments and chaos. How to create and how to pull apart. Isha soaked it all in, her quiet smiles and huffs doing what no words could.

That day for a moment, everything slowed.

Isha glanced back at Jinx, her face streaked with soot. Her eyes were bright, somehow they were always a little bit too bright. There was a trace of tears. She smiled—brave, warm and heartbreakingly young—and raised her hand in a mock gun, her thumb cocked like a trigger.

'Pow.'

It was barely a whisper, but Jinx could swear she had heard it amidst the muffled noises of a battlefield, of her world crumbling.

Three blue orbs loaded into a familiar gun.

“No,” she choked out, stumbling forward. “Don’t— ISHA!”

It was loud, unbearably loud. Someone held her back from going after the child that had become her light in the darkness for the last months.

The explosion ripped through the air. Jinx fell back, her ears ringing, her vision blurred by the afterimage of Isha’s silhouette. When the smoke cleared, Vander was still. ...

Turned into ashes blown away by the wind, scattered like it was never there, a little bird opened its wings and peeped “It’s alright for things to be this way...” A cub cried, “but must it be?” ...

Did your hands have slight shake to them? Was your heart beating wildly, making it difficult to breathe?

Did you feel that buzzing behind your eyes? Was your throat tight and your lips trembling when you smiled?

Would you do it all over again, just to see that blinding blue one last time? I give you six months, you give me a lifetime. Somewhere, the sky is blue. The water is clean and you can see the ground underneath. The rocks don't hurt your feet, only dig quite some. There's a place, and there's a family. And we call it home. --- Stop searching Give me a hug Just quietly forget I'm fine the way I am

---

[relia-robot-writes]

The door to the house creaked open, the darkness beyond laced with the barest, flickering light. Micra crept inside, then jumped as the door shut behind her. She grabbed at her wings with her lower arms and shivered, antannae trembling in the still air. "Eudae...?" she called out into the darkness, her voice small and seemingly swallowed by the house. There was no response.

"I, I got your message..." She said, creeping forward. "You said you needed help..." She stepped on a creaky floorboard and froze, antannae twitching at the slightest vibration. Nothing.

"Eudae," she said, voice barely a whisper, "where are you?"

A thump sounded from above her, then silence. As quietly as possible, she tiptoed her way up the stairs. A flickering orange light glowed from behind a door. Slowly, she pushed it open to see her worst nightmares confirmed.

Eudae was suspended in the air, stuck to the silvery webs of a spider. Her ankles were bound to her thighs, all four arms stuck behind her back, her beautiful wings pulled almost to their breaking point. Her eyes and antannae had been completely covered in more silky strands, and her mouth was full of the stuff.

Micra screamed and fell back against the door, scrambling desperately for a way out. The room was covered in spiderwebs, she'd never get out, she'd be consumed here, totally helpless in the control of her unseen assailant...

"Hey! Hey, easy, it's okay! Listen! Please stop screaming, you're fine! She's fine!"

Micra fell against the door in exhaustion from her burst of panic and turned, slowly, to see the other occupant of the room. From her perspective on the floor, she first saw a pair of gleaming black legs, then a tiny waist with a corset, then six black, sharp arms, most of which were held at awkward angles, and finally, eight gleaming black eyes above a pair of sharp mandibles. A spider. She scrabbled back away from it, wings dragging on the floor.

It took her a minute to realize it wasn't pursuing her. It took her another to realize the spider was waving, awkwardly. It took a third to realize that some of those arms were strategically positioned to cover the spider's mostly-nakedness. Micra blushed.

"Uh, hi," said the spider. "I'm Arane? I was the one that texted you. We got, ah, a bit carried away, and," she wiggled three of her arms, which pulled at strands of the web, and Micra realized that Arane was actually stuck to them. She laughed awkwardly. "Anyway, if you could hand me the safety scissors, I'd really appreciate it."

Micra glanced at the place Arane pointed and snatched up the funny-looking scissors before holding them in front of her like a sword. "Wh, what did you do with Eudae?"

"Huh? She's fine??" Arane looked perplexed. "Although I should cut her down soon, poor girl has been up there a bit longer than she bargained for."

Something moved in the corner of Micra's vision, and she spun to see Eudae moving, struggling weakly against her bonds. This time, her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized she was also very naked, with more strands of spider silk running across her body and... enhancing some of her features. Then her antannae finally registered the low buzzing noise emanating from her direction. Her face went ladybug red.

---

Her face was still ladybug red a few minutes later, sitting on Eudae's couch while slicing noises came from above. After a while, Eudae herself came down, wearing a simple robe and struggling a little with her movements. "Hey, ah," she started, hesitated, then picked up again, her voice slightly hoarse. "Thanks for coming. You, saved us both from a real problem."

Micra avoided looking too hard at her or the exposed red marks revealed by the robe. "Um. How did you text me when you were...?"

Eudae coughed, and started to turn on some additional lights, still limping slightly. "Well, ah, I, ah... I gave Arane access to my phone. So she could take pictures, and threaten to send them to-" she cut herself off with another cough. "Anyway, it's good I did, huh?"

Micra leaned towards her, glancing at the stairs. Lowering her voice, she said, "with a spider, though??"

"Don't be cladist," Eudae admonished her, quietly. Then she shivered. "Besides, have you seen her?"

At that moment, Arane came down the stairs, wearing a suspiciously similar robe, which did absolutely nothing to hide the curve of her abdomen. Micra imagined she could just see the barest tip of her spinarettes. She gulped. "Yes," she said in a strangled tone.

Arane strode across the room to hold Eudae in four arms, draping the other two over her shoulders before giving Eudae a peck on the cheek and addressing Micra. "Sorry about all this again, this never happens. We should meet up again sometime so I can introduce myself properly."

Micra's flush burned even brighter, and she couldn't meet Arane's gaze. She mumbled something, her fingers curling in her skirt.

Arane's eyebrows quirked, "Oh?" She glanced down at Eudae, who was also blushing, glancing away, and trying not to smile. "Well!" she turned her gaze back to Micra, and grinned. "Perhaps a nice meal first, though?"

Micra risked a glance up towards those eight, beautiful, captivating eyes, to her very pretty friend held in six strong, chitinous arms, thought about what first might imply, then fainted dead away on the couch.