#but i also understand that it wont be everyone's cup of tea

[kwamiwayzz]

Class of '09 Fic Rec List

(Art by Phrogpole on Twitter)

I created a doc sometime ago that included fic recs outside of Jecka/Nicole, but it ended up getting to a point where I started adding fics for pairings that I haven't read (or if I'll even read). It started feeling less honest, and I didn't want to bullshit it. So, now I'm creating this to include any fics I've read that I enjoyed or thought were good/well-written.

General:

Nicole-Fucking-Yu by VirginiaBurke - A fic that starts off similarly to the games, but Nicole is half-Asian. As someone who follows the Wasian Nicole headcanon pretty hard, this was such fun read. Unfortunately, it's incomplete, and I'm not sure if the author plans on updating it or finishing it. It's an interesting character study as well since Nicole's added minority status puts an extra layer to how she interacts with others and how others interact with her.

Solemates by Queen_Bae - Formatting issues aside, I think for the author’s first fic, this had some of the best characterization of Nicole that balances between maintaining her cluster B behavior with some of her more sympathetic traits. It also manages to merge two routes from Flip Side in a satisfying way that makes the canon version feel more like fanfiction than this one.

Life’s Like This by nutal - For people who just played Flip Side and were devastated by that one ending where Jecka left Nicole hanging, this is for you. The dialogue of Jecka trying to convince Nicole not to off herself was pretty funny and sweet. It's also considered a friendship fic which was why I didn't include this in my previous Jeckole fic rec lists.

Aricole:

I Won’t Lose (You) by ThaneOfVainglory - It's a Dead Dove fic in the sense that the themes and abuse are very heavy here. This is a canon divergent fic where Nicole tries to convince Ari to keep dating her after the counselor gave Ari the unintentional revelation that she was in an abusive relationship. Don't expect any happy endings for any character here, including Nicole, because the whole atmosphere of this fic hones in very closely on how vile Nicole can be. Personally, it may not be my favorite version of her, but reading the descent of their relationship was so interesting. If you're looking for a dark fic, especially an Aricole one, this one is for you.

Fishing For Love by ThaneOfVainglory - Ari and Nicole go on a fishing trip with Ari's dad. As usual, Nicole is an asshole here. What's new? But I think what I liked about this fic was how the codependency was written, even if it was only stated (not exactly shown) when Nicole was talking to Ari's dad. Despite Nicole being demeaning to Ari, Ari doesn't mind it (to an extent; or maybe she continues to gaslight herself, who knows). She's trying to work shit out in her fucked up brain, but the thought of being alone terrifies her to no end.

In Sickness And In Health by ThaneOfVainglory - I mostly thought the way the Aricole dynamic was written was pretty interesting. Ari falls ill, and it's the one time Nicole thinks to herself if she actually cares about her through all the abuse.

Off Target by Progman - The dynamic here is as fucked up and toxic as it gets for Aricole. Maybe not to the same degree as how ThaneOfVainglory writes them, but close enough.

Emicole:

Ecstasy by uxugxrl - As someone who doesn't really read a lot of Emily/Nicole, this fic captured Emily's unmedicated BPD brain pretty well (at least in my opinion). Emily worships the ground Nicole walks on, yet won't hesitate to slice her if she as so much seems to be looking down on her.

[boozenboze]

141 and male reader who is angry and when he’s angry, he goes in the gym area they have and just punches the punching bad with bare fists for hours on end and basically breaks the punching bags but keeps putting new ones up. his fists are bloody and bruised and everyone is looking for him and they can’t find him so they search everywhere and find him with blood running down his hands from the countless hours of punching and they have to practically drag him out of the gym and they make him lay down which he wont go down without a fight but YA

SORRY ITS LONG💗😭

Calm Down!

Summary: After a certain soldiers constant slip ups and slacking off Lieutenant Rage gets angry.

Females She/Her and She/ They DNI

Today hadn't gone so well, in fact it went terribly. For starters two of the new recruits lost the files that the team had been sent to retrieve. Secondly, one of the same men had flunked out during training, only to later be seen running about with some of the other soldiers. And the cup of tea to pull everything together he did something he shouldn't have. That thing being talking about one of the higher ups, Lieutenant Rage, also known as M/n. The h/c haired male had his eyes on the recruit since the beginning, knowing that he'd be trouble from the start. The childish acts, the constant slacking off, and always holding everybody back by getting injured. It was clear as day that the man shouldn't be in the military for those exact reasons. The mans carelessness for himself and others would get them all killed.

"Captain do you not understand what i'm saying?" The h/c haired male asked as Price hummed, showing that he was paying attention to the males words as he filled out some papers.

"Rage look, I understand your concern but I haven't seen anything wrong with the seargent." Price explained as M/n glared into his skull.

"Besides maybe your overreacting-"

"I AM NOT OVERREACTING!" The male finally snapped as that cold glint in his eyes that would normally only be seen on the field was now visible. Price flinched at the males change of tone, it was hot yet scary.

"That bastard could get us all killed at some point and your sitting on yer ass like that's ok. THAT IS NOT OKAY!" The male yelled as Price shook slightly from the males booming voice. He was the males Captain, he shouldn't be getting yelled at like this. With one final huff of anger the male stormed out as Price sat in his chair stunned.

The h/c haired male stormed down the hallway, knocking a solider down in the process.

"Hey! Whats your problem....." The soldiers voice dragged as he realized it was his Lieutenant. "I-i'm sorry sir!" The soldier squeaked as he ran down the hallway. M/n was already breathing heavily out of anger, and that anger seemed to double after that small accident. He had to let off some steam at this point. If he was pushed any further he'd end up killing someone. The man was speeding over to the training area that he knew would be empty considering that it was around the time the soldiers would go to their barracks. The h/c haired male couldn't do that, his adrenaline was high and that would only keep him awake longer. He just hoped that he could blow off some steam before going to bed.

Timskip (Gaz pov)

I just came from Prices office and he seemed to be deep in thought. I asked if everything was oky but he said no. He told me about the conversation he had with M/n and from how he explained it, it seemed like he was pissed off. M/n was always the most aggressive out of us all, hell he'd probably yank a mans head off if he could.

We were all walking around the base looking for our beligerant soldier known as M/n. The man could do the unthinkable when he's angry so we hope he isn't doing anything crazy.

"We've checked everywhere for the man it's clear he isn't here!" Soap complained, getting tired of feeling like he had been walking circles. I looked at the man before turning my attention to Ghost. Seemed like he didn't wanna be here either, but he had no choice. We passed the training area and heard a loud slam which caught our attention. Price gave us a look before opening the door. I was surprised to see M/n standing over a punching bag, i'm guessing he broke it considering that the chain that the bag was connected to wasn't there anymore. The man was out of breath as he picked up the punching bag and throwing it to the side.

Ghost had walked over and put his arms under the shorter males arms. The man immediately threw a fit, he was kicking and yelling incoherantly and the men were only able to hear snippets of his words.

"Get the fuck off me-BITCH!" The male yelled as he whipped his head back hitting Ghosts mask. Ghost grunted from the sudden pressure being put on his face as he crouch down to the floor with the male still in his hold. The taller man had the h/c haired male pinned to the ground as the position they were in restricted his movements.

3rd pov

"M/n calm down, we can stay like this for as long as we have to, to make your relax." Price said as M/n huffed angrily. Slowly but surely the mans breathing steadied, despite that he still wasn't calm. Gaz had held the mans hand and furrowed his brows at the sight of the males bleeding knuckles. Ghost had already noticed the mans hands, so he picked him up and walked to the infirmary.

Timeskip

Ghost was seated on the couch next to Ghost, who was currently sipping on some tea as the h/c haired male groaned in annoyance. The slurping sounds aggravated him but he couldn’t since Ghost had him wrapped up in a blanket. He looked like a burrito, a angry one at that. The lieutenant looked at him for a moment before offering the male a biscuit, to which he took. He may be angry, but when snacks are offered there can’t be much of an argument. The male muttered a “thank you” while chewing the savory treat. In that moment Soap and the others came into the room in their pajamas. The Scot almost laughed when he saw the position the private had been put in.

“Well ain’t this nice to see.” Soap said while ruffling the males hair to which the male attempted to bite his hand. Soap laughed and poked the males side before sitting down.

“L/n...look, I thought about what you had said and your right.” Price said as M/n looked him dead in the eye.

“We’ll be terminating him tomorrow, he won’t be bothering anyone else.” Price explains as M/n visibly relaxed. Seems like the removal of that one recruit made a big difference in the males mood which made them all happy.

“Alright...Lets watch a movie since we’re still up!” Gaz said happily while the other men hummed in agreement as M/n squirmed under the blanket.

“If one of you dont get me out this hot ass blanket we’re having problems.” M/n said as Soap hurriedly tool the blanket from around the male. The sound of the movie could be heard as all the men sat back and relaxed. M/n had his head on Ghosts shoulder while Soap had his head on M/n’s. Seems like they would be having a peaceful night.

[molluskmirage]

The villainization of Bad is perplexing to me for a lot of reasons. Fandom wanting him to pay for his actions when he didn’t even have the highest kill rate in purgatory on his team… Bad and Tubbo had the same amount of kills day 1. Bad was probably killed more by red team then he killed yet still its not enough for the red fandom.

also regarding Dapper. ‘Bad’s actions made it so no one would help dapper’…. Bad would never hold a parents actions against a child. Leo actively helped Vegetta and Roier place bombs all over Bad and Dappers farm house causing them to move. And even when they moved Bad still included Leo on the allow list. He loves Leo. Dapper really admired Vegetta and wanted to speak with him but was struck by him for teasing Foolish.

Bad teases and tricks and lies about unimportant things, steals furniture and he has trust issues yes, but he also counter balances that by providing others with lavish gifts and items and knowledge that takes hours to do. He repairs broken machines the kids have done for there parents, he takes care of the kids so no one dies of neglect, he keeps people company, he’s provided so much countless food and armor and exp to everyone at such volume its absurd to count. He made spawn so that it would be easy for others to get around when they died and constantly refills the xp.

He’s rp an actual demon but genuinely most of Bad’s actions while surface level inconvenient in depth he’s ridiculously generous and kind. The only time of him ‘cutting loose’ being in a game that was designed for killing and his son instructed him too. So many in the fandom gave weight to Chayanne’s message but for Dapper it was :eyeroll: whatever. Dapper who had been self harming themselves to help aid his siblings and other islanders was instructing Bad to run over other islanders, he wouldn’t say that unless it was important.

I can understand not liking a character theirs plenty I dont personally find my cup of tea but that doesnt make them evil. Its so strange to me that the fandom finds Bbh to be ‘the worst’ narratively, when Slime actively tried to murder Dapper and the other kids, Cellbit has gone full serial killer, Vegetta nearly killed Bobby with bombs, Forever lashed out in anger at Leo yet Bad stealing furniture that can be replaced by sticks and wool is the absolute dread of the server. Bad in a killing game was mean when others were mean and one of the few members of his team that could protect his team.

it’s interesting because for the most part Bad’s crimes are psychological (not to say its not a torment) but it’s interesting because it seems to be labeled so much worse then physical actions other characters have made. Bad doesn’t let others actions get to him he forgives and picks himself up and tries again maybe more guarded this time but he doesnt complain about others actions he always blames himself and carries on. Bad doesnt excuse himself he knows that his actions can cause distress from others and still does them without regret but he also understands others wont like him for his actions and fully accepts and expects it.

[bunnyandcoffeeposts]

Saving a Bad Situation

If you ever have a day/outing/conversation that just isnt going the way you want it to, everything just feels icky and wrong, and youre starting to think absolutely nothing can salvage it, consider Starting It Over! Not everything is going to perfectly all the time, but if you feel like you're losing control of a situation this play-pretend strategy can help you get back on course! Here are some ways we've used Starting Over to help get things back on the right track:

We were having quite a yucky morning - We woke up because of a bad dream, our morning tea wasn't made right, we forgot to eat breakfast until we were way too hungry, and we found out the plans for the day had changed drastically. It felt like the whole day was going to be miserable. So we Started Over! We got back into bed and set an alarm for 5 or 10 or 15 minutes, then closed our eyes and just laid under the covers hugging a stuffie until our "reset period" was over. We could pretend that the change of plans had been made the night before and so that was now just the plan for the day "like always", we remade our "first" cup of tea, reminded ourself to put toast on, and that bad dream was from "yesterday" morning!

Through neither person's intention, an important conversation was miscommunicated or misinterpreted, or a little bit of both. We both were long past upset and neither of us wanted to snap at each other. So, I said that I'd Like to Start the Conversation Over. We hung up our call, we both took a deep breath, and used our own mistakes, and our now better understanding of the other person's thoughts and needs to work through the conversation more carefully and considerately. We started the call over, greeted each other just like we hadn't talked at all that day, pretend that the previous talk never happened, but still had a productive and positive talk

I really wanted to play video games with Mama, and Mama really wanted to play video games with me! So, understandably, she moved rooms to the computer that has her games on it. I wasn't sure on how to communicate beforehand that I wasn't ready to change rooms, so the quick change with no transition period made me feel jostled and upset. So i said "I'm almost ready to go to the computer" and put in censored text that i would like to play pretend for a few minutes. We both pretended that we were still in bed and when i felt comfortable enough said that i was ready to "go" to the new room, covered my eyes for a few moments as we "went to the new room" and then took a few minutes to get adjusted. Physically we stayed sitting at the computer the whole time because there are a number of stairs in between, but it still gave me the effect of that transition period i needed

This is something mainly used with the littles or on days where emotional regulation is more challenging, but that doesn't mean that its little or autistic exclusive; everyone needs to hit the reset button sometimes! No, not everything in life is going to go exactly how we want it to, and we all need to be able to adapt to things out of our control, but that doesn't mean something "small" has to ruin your day, or that you can't take a breather before giving something a second go!

This is just something we've found helpful for us and been using more often lately to keep issues from snowballing out of control, and has also been a good exercise for us to better communicate our needs and feelings. It's a lot easier to say I Need To Start Over than trying to work through articulating emotions while upset. Its easier (and usually more protective, for us) to explain how we felt and what we felt went wrong once we're calmer. No, this probably wont work for everyone, we used to find it too hard to play pretend, but since getting back in touch with our imagination its become much easier, but its an extra tool you might want to add to your emotional and communication toolboxes and consider trying out!

[rottenbrainstuff]

Ooooh love and Deepspace quick follow up thought:

From the reactions I’m seeing to Caleb’s new content, I can see this must be a lot of people’s first time with any otome game tropes! I don’t know if this makes anything better or maybe worse, but the obsessive creepy overprotective boyfriend vibe you are commenting on is actually a very standard trope in games like this. In Japanese media, this type of character is called yandere - not sure about China.

Otome games actually have surprisingly uniform tropes that are standard across everything you read. Love and Deepspace has actually been surprising me with how they’ve taken the standard (boring) tropes and put a bit of a different spin on them, but even still, everyone here is recognizable to me. Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, every single one of these guys is a different take on an extremely standard stock character. I could look at any of the games I’ve played in the past and I could pick out the parallel characters that match the LaDS boys. (Haha actually I even played a game where the Sylus parallel was also a dragon!) Caleb is the exact same deal.

I mean it’s totally valid to not like it: yandere is not my cup of tea either. But I dunno, for some reason I feel like it’s important to understand that Infold did not just dream up this creepy and unsettling dynamic in a void, this is a very standard thing that is pretty much expected to be included in games like these. Some folks like it, and that’s why it’s here.

Oooooh. This is why a lot of you were surprised that Caleb had a more antagonistic role I guess then huh? That makes sense. See for me, as I learned about all the characters and what standard otome tropes they checked the boxes for, it all seemed very logical. I thought Sylus was going to be the creepy yandere one, but that ended up being a different thing altogether. Then from the tiny clues we got, I immediately assumed Caleb was going to fill the missing yandere role and I was right.

So I mean, now that you know it’s a standard character trope, at the very least that means you might be able to avoid it in other Asian media? Again like I’m not saying you’re wrong to not like it, yandere is not my cup of tea either, so when I see things labeled as such, that helps me to filter what I wont be interested in.

[thatbitchsimone]

I agree, the idol does not deserve the shit it’s getting. Like wtf why are we sooo sensitive to art these days. Art is supposed to bring up intense feelings and address difficult subjects. That’s literally it’s purpose! Just watched ep 2 and it was amazing. I think it depicts female trauma in such a raw, brutal and beautiful way. Lily is so good. Rachel sennott is too. Rlly excited to see where it goes.

havent watched ep 2 yet but like i do get why a lot of ppl might not like it like there are plenty of fair criticism of it imo like i get why ppl think its pretentious (it is) and i get why ppl think its lowkey annoying and cringy and tryhard to jam in as much nudity as possible just for some sort of edgyness factor (it is) and i totally get that ppl are getting sick of sam levinson and his style (we all have a bit of euphoria fatigue at this point lol) so like ofc i think there are very fair reasons behind thinking its trash. like ofc it wont be everyones cup of tea. and yeah sam levinson gives off sleazy pretentious asshole vibes. hes a man. in the film industry. duh. ofc we wont like him as a person lol but he can still make interesting shows

i just think the moral outrage is bizarre. like i dont understand the controversy. i dont understand how its more controversial and offensive then most other shows on HBO. like really what is the big deal like whats the actual issue? i rly feel like ive missed something tbh bc i cant figure it out. maybe theres been some inside drama within the production? idc about that tho as long as theres no abuse going on bc i know what its like to work with a crew and be part of film productions and the dynamics (nowhere near this huge level tho lol on a waaay smaller scale ofc since i was just a film student in school making school productions) and there is always head butting and conflict and stress and some disagreements like thats natural like ive had screaming matches with dudes in my class during filming for stupid little differences in how to go about certain scenes and shots etc but thats nothing imo as long as it works out in the end and no one gets harmed. but as a viewer i just focus on the end product aka the show/movie in itself not the production side of it like that very rarely plays a role in how i form an opinion on a show or movie or my enjoyment of it

also i have a huge crush on rachel sennott and i had no idea she was in the cast so i was very pleasantly surprised when i saw her lol like even if the show turns out to suck ill still watch just to get me some rachel time sorry not sorry

[tashilover]

LU Psychic AU

Since I know I wont have the time/drive to write such a fic, here's my little thoughts on what psychic powers our boys would have in this here AU. 

 Time: Foresight. When he was younger, he was thought he was exceptionally good at reading opponent's moves, able to predict what they would do next. But as the years passed, Time would notice he would also dodge incoming projectiles coming from behind him, be it an arrow or a snowball. His ability makes him a monster on the battlefield, baffling his enemies since nobody can catch him off guard. It also makes him damn near impossible to prank much to the irritation of his younger counterparts. 

 Hyrule: Can talk to ghosts. An exceptionally useful ability as majority of ghosts are friendly and willing to offer information. It is woefully one-sided, leaving Hyrule to interpret the ghost's meaning (or MISinterpret) and leaving his companions to stand there, twiddling their thumbs, waiting for him to finish his conversation. It is also a very dangerous power as those who've died violent deaths will not hesitate showing their anger towards him. 

 Sky: Prophetic dreams. He doesnt really consider his powers useful since he can only get them when he sleeps, it doesnt happen every time he sleeps, and most of his prophecies are of things that will happen hundreds, if not thousands, of years from now. As a result, Sky has dreamt of his counterpart’s adventures and was wonderfully delighted to meet them finally. He’s currently struggling to talk to Wild because all of Sky’s recent dreams involve Wild losing his arm...

Warriors: Reanimation of corpses, the counterpart of Hyrule’s powers. Warriors can give life temporarily to corpses/bones, giving the deceased a chance to tell their own side of the story. He doesnt do it often as the others find the act disturbing. Majority of corpses know they’re dead and are delighted to finally to have a voice again, even for a short time. The beauty of the power is the body doesnt need a tongue or skin or even brains to speak. As long as Warriors has a piece of them, they have a voice.

Wind: Wind communication. His ability is not unique only him as nearly everyone on Outset island can speak through the wind. Some mornings the group will wake up and find their young Sailor standing on top of a hillside, his hands cupping around his ears as he listens. Sometimes he speaks back, allowing the wind to carry his voice away. It does not matter where/when the Sailor is, the wind will carry on his message until someone is ready to receive it.

Twilight: Animal speech. Twilight has a hard time describing his ability as animals do no speak/comprehend the same way as humans do. He can understand animals on their most basic of levels: if they’re hungry, if they’re cold, if they’re scared, etc. If tries to as a more complicated question like, “Which way is the town?” all he would get back is a blank stare. Only animals who have spent their lives surrounded by humans, like Epona, can hold conversations.

Wild: Empath. He can always tell who is friend or foe, who is Yiga or stranger, who is lying or telling the truth. He can sense when someone’s blood sugar is low which is why he will offer a sandwich at random times. Unfortunately if he comes across a battleground/graveyard or any place where violence has occurred, the negative emotions will overwhelm him, making him an easy target for possession. It is only thanks to his talismans, the Sheikah Slate and amber earrings, that can dull his senses enough to help him function.

Legend: Fortune telling. The man knows every style of fortune telling there is; tea reading, bone reading, palm reading, smoke reading, etc. This unfortunately makes him paranoid as something innocuous as a cat blinking twice can be interpreted as a negative sign. He carries many fortune reading tools on him, though his favorite is his well-loved tarot deck which he uses every night before bed. 

Four: Psychometric. Four can touch an object and “read” that object’s past. It is one of the reasons why he is a phenomenal blacksmith. By touching a weapon, not only can he see exactly how the object was first formed and maintained through the years, if the weapon was formerly wielded by a master fighter, Four too can use those abilities. He has yet to touch the Master Sword, too afraid the long history and godly abilities could drive him mad.

[visionthefox]

Yeah it’s also happening in the English community but they are also saying like “please don’t let this be another undertale 🥺” and I’m like every single freaking fandom from Homestuck to whatever is currently in, will have bad apples we just have to ignore them or show that not all of the fans are like that.

Idk why people are so quickly to be like “can’t we enjoy this” like saying if p0rn is bad I get it you don’t want minors to see it but guess what minors aren’t dumb they know how to search for it (if they want to see it of course).

yea- YEA! porn itself if not bad! the human is horny by nature! so drawing fictional bobbas wont hurt anyone! Im a NSFW artist myself! and I can tell you at least 90% of us have a NO MINORS and DNI IN BIO- and every week we have to block ppl who dont follow the rules.. so is not like we actually want to be seen by kiddos - and the mean comments? we know is going to happend- (Im waiting for any idiot to comment on my SunxMoon "they are brothers!" or "they are the same person" as if thats mean anything) porn is not everyone's cup of tea- but is not ok to put us in the same bag as actual toxic ppl and I actually hate when someone say "oh this fandom is so bad like this one!" or "oh I hope this doesnt get ruined like x fandom!" I feel like they trully dont understand the concept of Fandom Fandom is the room we all walk in - Fandom is not a person- is a bunch of ppl- and when you have many people , you have bad people who are too loud! is not the Room's fault- is the toxic dude who cant shut up! dumb people is quick to say "oh this fandom is sooo toxic!" just because they had one single bad experience- or they dont understand a joke.. and you are totally right- is on us- the sane. good fans to keep proving them wrong!

[earthyleo]

Things i loved about the Barbie movie 💞🐴💗:

- The songs and the dance numbers were 💞💫really💫💞 well-done (I'll probably listen to the "I'm just Ken" song on repeat for days).

- The movie delivered everything it promised, they weren't lying when they said "if you like Barbie this movie is for you, and if you don't like Barbie this movie is for you". At the same time it is self-aware and makes fun of itself all the time, but also respects the characters and tells a simple yet interesting and meaningful story. (also lots of easter eggs for the barbie fans and collectors)

- Ryan Gosling as Ken is one of the best casting decisions ever made, he was my favorite character in the movie.

- THE KENS PATRIARCHY PLOT WAS SOOOO GOOD, it was also my favorite part of the movie because thats exactly what would happen if a Ken visited the real world and saw how men run everything, and it was a great metaphor for how WOMEN or any OPPRESSED GROUP feels, it really makes me sad that many people thought this movie is "man-hating" and "feminist propaganda", the movie is actually about EQUALITY and ANTI-EXTREMISM (of any kind).

- It had many good themes in general, i don't wanna spoil too much, but the movie references the biggest discussion topics of the last years (from feminism to fascism)

- The humour was very quirky and awkward and i understand it might not be everyone's cup of tea but it's exactly the type of humour i like

- It had some Wes Anderson vibes

- Every outfit was perfect

- HORSES (sadly none of the main characters ride horses tho)

- Theres probably more i don't remember but what I have to say right now: GO WATCH BARBIE, YOU WONT REGRET IT I PROMISE 💞

[bawmbo]

hi, thank you. youve opened a can of worms that cannot be closed

killer is such an interesting character to me. i realized that im not actually too sure where to start but ill start with his timeline;

the idea of a character whose home was slowly destroyed for reasons outside of their control and beyond what they couldve ever thought was real is an incredibly interesting concept to me. i also love psychological horror and reality breaking type of things in relation to it.

to be transformed into something outside of the bounds of definition, and live with the consequences of that, of your loss of autonomy is terrifying. to be named under that total loss is horrifying. to know that everybody will only know your name and never what you went through to get there, that no one would even really care. not that you could get yourself to. theres so much potential with the idea of someone who wants to drain your world of everything for entertainment, and they can forcefully recode it, and they do not care about you because you are just a game character to them. and you are the only one aware of this. and when youre taken out of the timeline by a strange man who can also forcefully shift your control of your situation, everyone will only know you as just as bad as him. as a murderer with no reason. and every time you look at this man (nightmare) all you can feel is the same hatred you feel for yourself. you cant help but feel like youre the same. but this isnt about nightmare as much as i really do love him and writing his character (also super passionate about him)

i have a lot of problems in general with his fandom portrayal and the fact that we either see him as portrayed as either incredibly childish, dumb, very sexualized, etc. and its okay to want to write him how you want to write him, have fun, just not our cup of tea

to us, hes incredibly agile, quiet. hes eerie and incredibly smart and much more aware of whats going on than he lets on. he has lost all respect for anyone who claims theyre more powerful than him, and the way he taunts is by bringing them back to his level (or just doing things he knows pisses them off but not enough to get him killed for it. massive staring problem and wont elaborate on it). and while he can be flirty, where i understand the sexualization comes from.

i think i just crave more in depth characterization from him. how terrifying he is during battles, how he knows the knives he fights with better than the air he breathes and the placement of his feet just as much. how he could be using his magic but its difficult to fight him even without it. the absence of what he could be doing and the presence of how difficult what he is doing showing through. his disconnection from the world around him and how hard it is to realize that everything around you is just codes. that everything is malleable in the wrong hands and everyone lives their lives blissfully unaware of how quickly things can change. and how he could be deeply angry by this but never actually feel it well in his chest like he sees with others. he isnt indifferent, and at some point, somewhere he might express that care. but he cant. and this is it. and he doesnt know how to move on from that.

maybe when he gets close to people his relationships end up showing slow signs of trust. when he does trust people is he surprised if they leave? how scared is he to depend on anyone when no one was ever there to? maybe one day he finally learns to sleep with his chest or back exposed and around people. and his version of hanging out is going "hey i know a spot" and its a 50 minute walk through a closed off forest but its beautiful. and youll probably get some diseases, just gotta hope you dont. the next place is probably a feral cat colony hiding in the sewers hes been feeding and slowly gaining the trust of. hes weird.

in general i really do love complex characters and think about them a lot. and i love seeing how complex characters can be written. i love exploring the possibilities with him and i find that when we either write him or collab stories where we write characters interacting with him, we have a lot of fun and end up thinking about him a lot.

my friend @nullandvalid is a big killer enthusiast too and if you send him an ask you could probably get a big rant too. (also @thaltro. both him and null write killer super well imo. been incredibly fun to listen to them talk about how they write him and engage in writing stories with them) thank you for giving me time to yap about it, ill probably be thinking of more in the meantime but this is all i have atm fhahaha

another one for fun, pretty experimental. this one was one of those "draw regardless of whether or not you think it looks good" things. swore to myself the next utmv character i drew and posted was gonna be fell but here we are. gonna try to get used to posting things that i dont consider my best work. hi killer love you dude

[jadequarze]

I’m spiralling cause my brain just stuck me with the thought that if it all gets to be too much and out of pure desperation Imogen tells Delilah to bind to her. Just offering herself up HELP

Ok, so I have a personal opinion for this. First off, I'm so sorry anon for the opinion I'm about to blurt for this thought. I have a very strong feeling for this thought and I'm going to put it under 'Keep Reading". I hope this opinion doesnt come out of context and everyone have their own opinion, I respect that. This is my personal thought for it, so be warned. I hope this doesn't come out mean, it's not. Please don't take it out of context. Also, y'all know I love Imogen and Imodna as well.

Personally, I sincerely hope she doesn't go that path. Because, maybe it's just me, but that feels like it's belittling Imogen's own character. If that's just how she is perceive, I cant find the right word for it, so I'm going to loosely use 'obsessive', to the point of disregarding the long road I'm sorry to say, but I think I'm going to have a hard time liking Imogen as a character. It's not my cup of tea.

Moreover, it raises the questions if she ever takes that road,

Is she doing this for Laudna? Or is she doing this for herself? Does she even care about Laudna's choices to maybe rest? (No worries about the third question tho since Marisha is adamant on playing Laudna, it's just flavor question)

She says she cares Laudna, is that even caring her by binding with Delilah, knowing full well, that she's taking Laudna's abuser into the world. Imogen still doesn't understand her powers, and damn sure doesn't know what Delilah is capable. Even with this new episode, with VM implying that Delilah is very dangerous, and they've killed that woman so many times. Moreover, Delilah having access to Imogen's magicks will bite all of their ass and highly doubt Laudna is spared. Wont that just make this SO MUCH WORSE, it's going to be Imogen's fault. It's her fault that she killed Laudna again because you took Delilah's deal.

Short term, it's all fun and soft, hey you got Laudna back, wooo. The long term, fucked.

It's just, I'm getting pretty damn tired/burned out seeing Imogen characterized as being nothing more than an obsessive (loose term) character.

This is all my opinion, and I know not everyone shares my opinion and thats okay. If you do have personal opinion for this, please be respectful. That's all I ask.

[bichristian]

Hey! Im a christian and am asking this in good faith, is easter not based on a pagan holiday? thats always what i was taught...

I'm always here for asking questions! It's a popular misconception and it's rather pervasive. My main axe to grind is that I think if you want to be a content creator you owe your audience slightly more research than "well this is what everyone thinks" and "I'm allowed to say this because I was raised Christian".

Disclaimer: I don't care what denomination you are, how much emphasis you put on traditions/liturgy/whatever. HOWEVER, because some of this boils down to "high" vs "low" church (which the high vs low thing is an Anglican creation, but basically it's how much priority you put on liturgy, vestiments, ceremony, sacraments, etc. I rarely use the terms, but it's concise here), anti Catholic bias, and my theories on where the breakdown in communication occured, it may seem like I'm leaning one direction. I'm not. Celebrate Easter how you like. Or don't, as some people are wont to do. Let's just make sure we have our facts in a row!

Firstly, how you feel about the origins of Easter probably at least in part depends on what tradition you grew up in. If you went to a "high church" (such as yours truly), most things involving Easter tended to have very strong ties with scripture and basically have us walk through a several month period of Jesus's life (excluding specific cultural or denomination traditions, which includes the Easter bunny and egg hunting!). Because Easter isn't just one day, it's an entire SEASON. First you have the pregaming: Ash Wednesday (the start of Lent), Lent (Jesus's wandering in the desert, where we stop counting Sundays as a part of the week to get an even 40), Maunday Thursday (Passover, the humiliation of Jesus), Good Friday (the crucifixion), and Holy Saturday (Jesus actually being dead, honestly the entire day felt like its own liminal space, personally). And then we finally get to: Easter/Ressurection Sunday, and then the Easter season lasts until Pentecost, in which you often talk about all the stuff that happened after Jesus came back. With "low churches", your milelage varies much more, but in my experience a lot of these events are diminished or completely taken out. Which I'm not knocking, it's everyone's choice and liturgy isn't everyone's cup of tea, but you can see how when you start removing or lessening all these things that you can follow 'how we got from scripture to here' in a neat line, it leaves room for people who don't do these things to say "wait, paganism", or at least assume some non Christian influence.

The argument about Easter being descended from a specific fertility goddess (I think it's fertility goddess, but it doesn't matter because, spoilers, she more than likely didn't exist) tends to focus on a Germanic goddess, which if that was the case you simply would not see a lot of churches all over the world having overlap in their celebrations of Easter, because we know that a Germanic Christian people did not bring the concept to the world. We also have no existence of this goddess before a monk in the 8th century said 'oh look, Eostre/Ostara! that is definitely where we got the name from!' This argument was also perpetuated by certain Protestant groups to invalidate Catholic practice (again, getting into the "high" vs "low" priorities of traidition and ceremony and how people who are very against liturgical traditions and ceremonies could use lack of knowlege, context, and understanding to villify other Christian's celebrations). You can see how these misconceptions can perpetuate themselves to the point that it's just one of those things that must be true because we have no reason to question it. After all, it matches a pattern that we've seen in other areas of history and Christianity, so it makes sense this would be another one, right? And trust me, I'm not judging, I'm certainly guilty of doing this too. I tended to keep a mindset of 'not my circus, not my monkeys', on this (and Christmas, which I honestly have so many opinions on divorced from the pagan argument) because in the end, I didn't see a point in poking the topic. We celebrate what we celebrate and there was enough scripture (and multicultural overlap) swimming around to make it make sense as to why we celebrate it. It wasn't until the information literally fell into my algorithm that I put some effort into learning about it and oh boy, did I develop some opinions.

Another argument is about eggs and rabbits, which is actually a pretty simple answer (relatively). Eggs are one of the foods that was (or still is, depending on your tradition) taken off the menu during Lent for fasting. The same was true of dairy and meat (hence why on Shrove or Fat Tuesday pancakes are common, it's a holdover of the time when everyone would feast to empty out their cupboards of foods that were banned during Lenten fasting and why certain groups will still offer up some sort of minor fast, such as chocolate, and why the Fillet o' Fish from McD's exists). Since eggs keep longest, the most common food you'd still have at the end of lent was eggs, which is why they tended to be associated with Easter celebrations. They then started being dyed red (for the blood of Christ) and green (for fertility and new life, because ressurection). Rabbits are believed to be a thing in Easter because turns out European brown hares (which are not rabbits but they're relatives and this should not be where our hang ups live, guys) can conceive a second time while already pregante (which is horrifying), which before we understood biology sounded kinda some sort of miraculous conception without sex, like Mary. They're also just very fertile in general, which again, new life. And are bunnies a common thing in other religions? Of course! But not everything's a "stolen" conception, sometimes everyone looks at a rabbit and sees a good fertility metaphor because rabbits are an excellent fertility metaphor.

Unfortunately tumblr is rude and won't let me add multiple videos in one post, so I'm going to have to try to reblog a few times, but there are a few tik tokers who have good, succint points, which I'm sure you can see I am physically incapable of, so bear with me (and check the reblogs) as I try to beat this beast into submission. Also some sources:

(if you can't read it, do a quick double tap on the refresh, it should bring up a version not restricted by subscription)

Anyways, hope this was helpful and not too boring and join me next time as I shake my fist at the monster of Christmas and also figure out where exactly the paganism ends and the capitalism begins (which tbf, it's mostly capitalism at this point). If someone wants to remind me, feel free otherwise I'll see you probably Christmas of 23.

Update: turns out Tumblr should be put in JAIL because I can't add more than one video, so the rest will be up soon and I'll see if I can at least link them.

[espritmuse]

How do they express their love in public.

Levi Yelena Jean Hange x reader

I may do a part 2 later for other characters if any of you want !!

Levi is not really the type to express his feeling, nevertheless, with you, he can try a bit, even in public. Don’t ask him too much though, the raven-haired man would definitely let you grab his arm and maybe even hold your hand if you hold his first.

For more, he is a bit uncomfortable, he never really experimented love and affection before you came into his life so if you try to kiss him in public he would definitely start acting awkward towards you (even though he does not really hate it)

Both of you were walking in the tranquil village, hands in hands. You noticed a small shop with very pretty items and your eyes widened. Your lover noticed it and decided to buy you one of the small objects in the shop window. Once outside, you decided to kiss him on the cheek in a sign of gratitude.

“yn .... not here please.” The man started blushing slightly and turned his head around, looking for any unexpected voyeurs.

You chuckle a bit and step back.

“No one is looking at us Levi de-stress a bit” You took his hand again and you both started walking again.

Yelena

This woman would be behind your back every minute of your life. She definitely treats you like a princess in distress or even a helpless toddler unable to do anything or they would hurt themselves by accident.

She always has a hand on you, around your nape, on your head, holding your own hand, around your shoulder, playing with your hair...

She couldn’t care less if you both are in public, in fact, she prefers this way because she likes showing everyone that you belong to her and her only. Her little precious thing that no one could achieve or even dream of achieving. You’re the only person she really trusts and with whom she really feels comfortable.

Yelena asked you to – as always – come with her to one of her meetings. You always found them boring, but your lover really seemed to enjoy them so you accepted without hesitation, you couldn’t resist her puppy eyes she gave you every time.

The meeting already started when you both came into the room. You quickly stepped to your chair but the moment you were about to sit, you felt a hand grabbing yours. As you looked up, you saw the blond-haired girl.

“Where do you think you’re going, princess? “

You turned your head a bit, a sign of your incomprehension to which she answered with her usual smirk before sitting on the old chair placed in the last row of the room.

“Sit here.” she said, patting her lap.

Jean

Jean is head over heels for you and he doesn’t spend a day of his life without showing you that it’s the case.Same as Yelena, he doesn’t care if you are in public and why would he?

He loves you and wants you to know it –and he also can’t resist too long when he sees you–

Sasha and Connie definitely made a bet about how long he could stay without cupping your cheeks your putting his chin on top of your head. (And trust me, that was the fastest someone even lost a bet)

« yn..... » Your lover looked at you with a small malicious smile on his lips.

« no Jean. » You haven’t even looked back at him, you knew his exact face at this moment.

« but you look so tiny.... »

« if you don’t shut up.... Jean. Put me back on the floor right now. » As you started your statement, your boyfriend grabbed your hips and lifted you to place you on his shoulder. You tried to hit his back with your hands, but without success.

« are you trying to tickle me baby? »

Hange

The scientist doesn’t care if you’re in public or not and not only about showing her love to you. Change is the type of person to talk about the weirdest thing at the weirdest moment, people or not. You tried to tell her that she couldn’t say any of this stuff in public, but she just looks at you with a look of interrogation.

She would always hold your hand, talking about her experiments as you were the only that dared listening to her without falling asleep or calling her crazy.

You were quietly drinking tea with Levi, both of you sitting next to a small window looking at the sun as it was slowly rising in the orange sky accompanied by the chirps of the birds. As a soldier you had to wake up pretty early every morning, but this view never failed to amaze you. You looked back to your hands where your porcelain tea cup was. You closed your eyes as you slowly sipped the....

"Y/N!! Y/N!! YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED” Hange yelled as she barged into the room, making you choked on your tea

The room full of half asleep soldiers was now glaring at the brown haired woman, which was wearing a -supposedly– white coat full of stains and protective glasses placed messily on her forehead.

You don’t even think that she realized that everyone was staring at her.

“Hange...” You slapped your forehead and heard Levi chuckle.

“I know you asked me to sleep with you yesterday, but...”

“HANGE.” You looked at her with big eyes trying to make her understand that people were watching.

“What??? okay come with me and we could go to my room later.” She suddenly grabbed your arm and headed outside.

“You’re embarrassing me...”

———

More of my works here

[that-little-zebunny]

The Cursed Beauty: Chapter one

Pairing: Beast/Prince!James Bucky Barnes x Beauty!Reader (Beauty and the Beast AU)

Warning: this is an 18+ fic!, attempted rape, injury, assault.

Word count: 1,241

Summary: Beauty's curse. :’(( lets keep it that way. Pilot chap 💕

Note: this is something that came up on my rewatching the beauty and the beast 2017 movie on my sad brain day 😅 hope you'll enjoy this. Feedback and comments are so so appreciated 💜 thank you for reading!

Seb Stan & Characters’ Taglist: @nano--raptor @marvelgirl7 ​ @godofplumsandthunder ​ @jobean12-blog ​ @hawksmagnolia ​ @jewels2876 ​ @bugsbucky ​ @tyranneosaurus ​ @hailmary-yramliah ​ @buckosawrus ​ @cherryblossomskye ​ @curleyred2020 @sipsteacasually @harrysthiccthighss ​ @lookalivefrosty ​ 

Series Taglist open <3

You just bid your Father goodbye as he head off to an inventors fair out of town. You prayed for his safe journey and went on with your day. Cleaning the house, feeding the animals, tending your little vegetable garden and your favorite time of the day to finish reading the latest book you’ve burrowed. It was such a lovely story. A lady went on an adventure to find herself and find love. It was almost on the exiting part when you heard continues knocking on your door.

You sighed and got up to see who it is knocking annoyed for having the need to stop reading.

“Who is it?” You asked, removing the lock on your wooden door.

“Y/N, lovely evening. It’s just me Romlow.” Said the person outside. Knowing who it is made you more annoyed. Brock Romlow the town chief and also the most self-centered brute you ever met.

You opened the door wide enough to peak but not wide for him to get in.

“How can I help you?” You asked him trying to hide your annoyance. It wasn’t a secret that he fancies you but you really don’t find him attractive unlike the other girls. He would walk in front of them and they’ll melt. So silly.

“We’ll I saw your father left earlier. I just want to check if you’re doing well on your own tonight.” He said his eyes roam up and down your form. Luckily you haven’t change to your night dress. The way his eyes run up and down your body makes you want to puke your dinner.

“I am perfectly fine, Chief Romlow. Thank you for going out of your way to check.” You said smiling politely at him. He looked at you in a long nerve racking minute before nodding to himself and left.

Your heart was beating badly when you finally closed the door. You really don’t understand the way he acts around you. Unlike the other ladies you don’t bother with how you look. You crave adventure and to be out in the world. You don’t plan on staying here forever, you thought as you walked back to continue reading your book before heading to bed.

  Something crashing from downstairs woke you up. One of the chicken must have slip in while you're closing up but you remembered checking if they're in their coop. Surely you'll notice? Lighting up your candelabra you went down frowning as another crashing sound came up.

As you reached the final step you saw a tall figure near your back door. The kitchen window is now unhinged from its place. You hurriedly covered you mouth as a gasp came up.

Intruder! You thought. Silently you blew the light from your candles and walked slowly to get back to your room to lock yourself inside. Half way up the stairs someone grabbed your ankle making you loose your footing. You covered your head in hopes to not hit the steps but you still felt a sting on the side of your left eye.

You got dizzy for a quick second as your attacker made you turn on your back. You tried to push him off you but he's too big he didn't even move a little with all the force you put.

"Stop! Please!" You begged and you heard a familiar annoying laugh.

"Now you're begging." Chief Brock said. "Been dreaming of having you begging for me." He laughed again making your stomach turn. He ripped your night gown exposing your chest.

No, this cannot happen. You thought. He cannot have you so while he's busy kissing your now exposed breast. You want to throw up but the need to make him stop in your main focus.

Trying to push his face away with your left arm you tried to find your candelabra with your free hand smashing it in his head as soon as you got hold of it.

"Goddamn it woman!" He said angrily. His hold to you loosen and you slipped away from his hold. Getting back to your room will not be an option anymore now that you know who your attacker is. He can just make up some story and get away with it.

So you dashed towards the kitchen area and used the open window he went in with wincing as you foot landed on some rocks. Fighting over the pain you felt all over you run. Running towards the dark forest hoping he wont be stupid enough to follow you there.

You run and run not caring where your feet are taking you. You don't know how far you've run when you saw a hay cart in a small cabin. There are light inside so hiding there wont be an option so with your shaking legs you got up the hay cart.

You made sure you're covered enough in case you're being followed. You're supposed to just wait until before the sun rise so you can continue walking in the forest but somehow exhaustion won over and you fell asleep.

You woke up gasping for air as the event last night came back. You looked around and saw that you're in a dusty but beautiful room. Sitting up the blanket covering your body fell down exposing your nakedness. You heart went wild.

Did he got to you? Were he able to...to...oh god! Tears started flowing down your eyes like a dam with the idea that The Chief was able to take your innocence. The big doors opened and you hurriedly tried to cover you body with the blanket.

A lady came in carrying some elegant looking tea set in a tray.

"Oh my, darling don't cry." She said. Her voice is so sweet and soothing that your loud sobs died down. Putting down the tea on the side table next to you she sat down and held your hand. "Our master found your sleeping outside his cabin in the forest. You're so injured and very much full of dirt that's why I had to clean you up. You're safe." She said and your tears bust out again this time from relief.

"I-I...thank you so much." You said not knowing what else to say. She smiled sweetly and offered a cup of tea. You slowly calmed down as you too a sip oblivious to the man standing outside your slightly ajar door.

His sharp eyes watching your every move.

"She's very lucky you found her Master James." Said his right hand man Sam. "Maybe she's the one that will help us break the curse?" He continued.

James just grunted knowing it wont be that easy as he drunk your beauty in. One look in his face and you'll quickly lose your sanity and will throw yourself at him like any other women outside his household does. It's hopeless. No women will genuinely love him. The Enchantress made sure of that.

Soon his people will sleep and wont wake up again. It was what she said. In his thirtieth birthday if no woman loved him in return everyone he cares will turn into stone in their sleep. That's why he always stays in his cabin at night. He couldn't sleep knowing all the people that truly cared for him will soon be gone because of his selfishness. He’s trying to teach himself how to live on his own. 

Because everything is his fault. His beastly behavior became everyone’s downfall.

[heleizition]

How Alfred interact with his shifter babies? Where is Barbara in all of this? Is she a shifter or human? Also, I want to know more about Tim's parents... How was they and how Tim ended up with batfamily?

ok hold on . .. i need a second . .. im thinking about alfred holding like, baby panther dick in hi arms n smilng softly,,, jst . .. give me a moment . ..... like ... hes cooking n hyerna jason who’s starting to grow jst sits beside him n tucks his head on the counter n looks at alfred like feed me and alfred is so so fond of his grandsons yk,,, of his family,,,, cries

OK SO beside that tim shifts from cat to human the first time with alfred,,, hes a safe adult in his eyes and he trusts him and its a trust alfred hasnt and wont ever betray. cass just likes to sit on his shoulder while he has tea,,, he makes her a cup and she flies over to drink when she feels like it but mostly she’s chilling. steph usually runs around and tries to pick things up to “help” alfred and he gives her lil pets,,,, duke usually feels like in the way when hes shifted and alfred is cleaning up or working around him so he usually shift back and helps and it makes alfred smile a lot even after he tries to shoo duke away bc thats His Job yk,,, duke still helps sefooefshofse

OK UM i admit i did not think of babs bc she always slips from my mind,,,, i dont have a big connection to her character,,,, im not sure if she’s a shifter yet i gotta think but i kinda feel  ,,, fox for her,,,,, if u have other suggestions im open ? i dont know much about her character sadly,,,,

OK SO under the cut is tim’s story n how he met and ended up w the bat, big tw for animal (shifter) abuse and child abuse, starvation, abandonment, umm mutilation & description of injury

tim first turned into a cat (to his parents knowledge) when he was about 4 or 5. he’d been already introduced to the world but as he was a small child they hadn’t really been showing him around everywhere so only a handful of people knew/remembered small boy tim. janet has a particular hate toward that branch in her family that can shift so she’s really jst. hating her son having it and she immediately just. decides that she just doesnt want to see him. so jack and her just start locking him in a tiny cat cage, which prevent him from turning back into a boy, feed him catfood when they remember to feed him. at some point they get him declawed (which gives him terribly vivid nightmares of human him getting his fingers torned off of his hand) and when they leave they give him a tight collar while leaving him out of the cage which prevnts him from shifting back bc the collar would just go through tim’s throat if he shifted to human.

so tim drake ends up . not existing. everyone forgets the drakes had a son, tim very rarely gets to be in human shape (which hurts at some point), and when he does his parents usually yell at him and making him feel very unwanted, going as far as throwing things at him until he jst, shifts back and makes himself as small and forgotten as possible. he stopped going to school early, but he still taught himself to read (u gotta do smth when ur stuck as a cat for years) and went through lots of his parents books (that were on bottoms shelfs bc its hard to put the books back in the right shelves while in cat form and he gets yelled at enough as it is just for existing).

so he’s like 10, and his parents have been gone for a while . and he’s rly not doing good. he’s not rly clinging to life. he’s underfed. everything hurts. his brain isn’t really reactive anymore. and hes on the wall between the drakes and the wayne’s estate dick and jason are in the garden, playing around, and he just. falls asleep. passes out from exhaustion and his body kind of giving up on him.

they hear him or see him, idk, they find him and jason shifts back, holding the small kitten in his arms and he runs inside, n they take care of him, the adress on the collar said he’s from next door,,, at this point they dont know he’s a shifter,, but when he wakes up tim’s all warm and tucked against a warm body (dick) and jason is beside them petting him gently and the second tim is awake he’s tense and trying to get away bc humans have done nothing but hurt him at this point yk,, he’s barely ever met anyone,,, he sticks to the drake’s house bc he’s terrified they’ll know if he goes somewhere else

(altho deep down he thinks they’d be happy if they came home to an empty house)

and when he wakes up. thats when dick n jay understand he’s not just a cat, he’s a shifter, n jason holds him in place to remove the collar bc he *knows* he cant possibly be able to shift to human with it,,, but even without it tim doesnt shift back, hes jst, scared cat,,,,

(”hey, it’s ok, we’re like you” jason says, in the most gentle voice dick’s ever heard him use. there is a moment of silence, where the kitten blinks, and then the familiar noise of flesh rearranging itself while jason shifts into his hyena form. he’s careful to keep his distance, laying on his stomach to make himself smaller - which helps, but not by much as he’s still huge compared to the little shifter in front of them. dick knows the lines of tension and those of exhaustion in their muscles, and remembers how they didn’t even stir when jason had carried them inside. he shifts. 

“i’m gonna get you some food, okay ?” he levels his tone with his brothers. “we should have some fruits around, upstairs. fish maybe ? if you’d like ? or something else.” he smiles that smiles only he knows how to smile. “or maybe you’d like to pick yourself ?”

the little cat manages to make themselves smaller.)

they eventually manage to feed him and hydrate him, and dick tells alfred and bruce about the little shifter while jason keeps an eye on him,,, bruce connect the drake and tim shaped dots. he remembers janet and jack rejecting a gala invitation a while back bc she had recently delivered, only he’d never seen the kid.

tim only lets jason and dick close a first, bc they’re younger, bc they’re shifters, and then alfred bc alfred always brings him food on a plate and with a fork and knife like he’s going to use them as a human. he talks to tim and pets him gently once tim allows it,,, he’s a safe adult.

bruce scares him a lot, even if he’s gentle and he’s a good dad. he’s bigger than jack has ever been, and he knows he could hurt him. he just scares him a lot. he has too much authority, too much presence.

tim shifts back into a human on is seventh day at the manor, while alfred sits with him in a little room tim had hid in. he’s a very small boy and he cries out in pain when he shifts, but alfred puts a hand on his cheek and just smiles

(”hello, my boy”)

tim is very quiet, takes a shower and shifts back before anyone else can see him,,, but slowly he lets it happen around the others. one time dick n jay wake up from a nap session to a little boy suggled between them,,, there is a lot of hurt and pain from jason bc he’s been that little boy, hurt and scared and in pain, and it brings back a lot of sad things,,,

eventually he lets himself shift into bruce’s arms on the second week and he cries a lot n bruce tells him he figured out he’s the drake’s son, and jst, h, he adopts

[whatstheproblembaby]

Fic: Points of Contact

PG-13, 2325 words, intended to be a character study but just kind of turned into a pile of fluff and banter? /shrugs

Also on AO3.

As much as she loved a quiet meal at home with her family, Shelagh appreciated their monthly invitations to dinner at Nonnatus House. The little ones were in ecstasy, surrounded by all of their favorite adults, who had no excuses not to play with them. She herself got to enjoy a meal in which she only had to cook one of the dishes, and now that Cyril and Fred were part of the guest list, she knew that Patrick looked forward to a little time with “the lads,” as he was (unfortunately) wont to call them.

She felt a smile blossom across her face as she re-entered the dining area from the kitchen, fresh cup of tea in hand. The others had adjourned to the parlour, where they were waiting for Doctor Who to start. Patrick, Cyril, and Fred had all dragged dining chairs to the far side of the room and were chatting away animatedly, though Cyril kept turning his gaze to the television every so often, clearly not wanting to miss a moment of the show. Sister Monica Joan was on a low stool, no more than a foot of space between her and the screen. Her focus, though, was on the children, who were listening somewhat attentively to her explanation of what to expect from the programme. Violet had had to step out on council business, so Sister Julienne and Phyllis had commandeered the armchairs, leaving the rest of the nuns and nurses to pile onto the sofa or sprawl out on the surrounding floor. Shelagh scanned the space, trying to see where she could squeeze in, when a gesture between Trixie and Sister Frances stopped her cold.

Trixie had perched on the arm of the sofa, one arm draped across Sister Frances’ shoulders. Even that level of public affection was a surprise to Shelagh, who hadn’t realized that Trixie’s comfort with casual, friendly touches extended past her fellow resident midwives, but Sister Frances’ response was the real stunner.

Sister Frances leaned contentedly into Trixie’s loose embrace, tucking her head as best she could onto Trixie’s shoulder and throwing her right arm over one of Trixie’s legs. She showed no fear of being caught doing something improper - indeed, Sister Julienne looked on with a smile as Sister Hilda finished relating an anecdote and the whole sofa burst into laughter.

Shelagh felt her breath catch. She only realized she had been hovering in the doorway a little too long when a concerned “Shelagh?” came from Patrick’s side of the room.

“Forgot to add milk,” she quipped, raising her cup and hoping the laugh she added at the end sounded less forced to everyone else’s ears. She turned and headed back to the kitchen, where she rummaged through the refrigerator with unseeing eyes.

A religious Sister is holy and separate, Sister Adelaide’s voice swam up from her memories. She rejoices and mourns with the community she serves, but she is not of the community. She cannot confuse the comforts of being a sister of man with her higher purpose fulfilling God’s commands with her Sisters in Christ.

Shelagh pressed her lips together wryly as she imagined Sister Adelaide’s reaction to the current display in the parlour. She knew her former instructor in the religious life had since passed on, but she hadn’t realized quite how different the lessons for the newer Sisters would be.

“My love, are you sure you’re all right?” Patrick reached down and took her teacup, setting it on the counter before securing both of her hands in his. “You’re taking an awfully long time to add milk to your already milky tea.”

“Maybe I want the extra calcium,” Shelagh said, smiling up at him. “These old bones could use some shoring up.”

“I’m not even going to respond to that statement, in order to not incriminate myself in the process,” Patrick said with an echoing smile. The love in his eyes still caught Shelagh off-guard, even after years of marriage. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m fine, Patrick,” Shelagh said tenderly. “The times have changed, that’s all. Now, we’d better get back to the parlour before Sister Monica Joan turns all of our children into mystics and Romantic poets.”

Patrick huffed out a laugh. “You know I’m going to ask you to explain what you mean by that first statement later.”

“I will. I just need a little more time to process it for myself first.”

Shelagh noticed the sensation of Patrick’s hand on the small of her back a little more acutely than usual as he guided her back to the party, marking how he removed it once they were properly in mixed company. Later, too, she became aware of how there was always a careful space left for her amongst the women, close enough to ensure she was included, but not so small that she was nudged playfully in the shoulder or brushed by someone crossing their legs to the other side.

The warm weight of her son in her arms at the end of the evening was her anchor. Teddy was dozing off by the time they left, and May and Angela weren’t too far behind. Thankfully, Sister Julienne offered to carry Angela out to their car to keep Patrick or Shelagh from having to make two trips down the stairs.

“Thank you for inviting us to dinner. We always have such a lovely time,” Shelagh said, rocking Teddy as she waited for Patrick to settle May in the back seat of the station wagon.

“The pleasure is all ours, Shelagh,” Sister Julienne said. She reached out and squeezed Shelagh’s arm once, maternally. “You know you’re part of our family. You are always welcome here.”

Shelagh just smiled, unsure of what her voice would do if she tried to respond aloud. By then, Patrick had secured May, so she focused on getting Teddy into the car next without waking him or disturbing the girls. Once all was in order, she and Patrick wished Sister Julienne a good night and waited for her to get back inside safely before they drove off.

In the car, Patrick started to say her name, but Shelagh cut him off by sliding across the bench seat and dropping her head on his shoulder.

“Get us home, Patrick. I’ll explain once we’ve got the children squared away for the night.”

The ride home was quiet, the soft sound of the radio the only real noise as Patrick navigated the streets of Poplar. Shelagh eventually shifted so her hand was resting loosely on Patrick’s above the gear shift, to allow him to manoeuvre the car better, but she stayed close by his side as they unloaded their children and got them in bed, earning a pleased yet confused look from her husband.

“You’re tactile this evening,” he observed mildly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they walked down the hall to their own room.

“I’m tactile plenty of evenings,” Shelagh replied, handing Patrick his pyjamas from the wardrobe before fetching her own. “I just don’t always allow myself to act on it.”

“Because of-” Patrick broke off, freeing himself from his vest before continuing, “Because of something I’ve done? Shelagh, I’m so-”

“Not because of you, Patrick,” Shelagh said decisively. “Quite the opposite, in fact. But I’m not explaining while you’re changing - I don’t want you to smother yourself with your own clothing!”

They separated long enough to get their pyjamas on and wash up for the night, giving Shelagh one last moment to collect her thoughts.

“Come here,” Patrick said when she reentered the bedroom, holding his arms open from where he sat on his side of the bed. “If you’re still allowing yourself to be tactile, that is.”

Shelagh slid under the covers and into his arms gratefully. “I’m going to try. I don’t want to display too much affection in public, but...I think I may have been holding myself to old-fashioned standards.”

Patrick just raised an eyebrow, looking down at her with curiosity.

“Tonight, at Nonnatus, I saw Trixie and Sister Frances cuddle up to each other without a second thought, and I didn’t know what to do for a moment,” Shelagh explained. “When I was a Sister, casual physical touch was not encouraged. One was supposed to focus on one’s commitment to God to find sustenance and support. Perhaps after one’s life vows, or at a funeral for another Sister, there could be a quick embrace, but on a typical day, there should be space between one and one’s Sisters on the sofa at recreation, and one should not even think about touching or embracing a layperson unless they were experiencing labor, bereavement, or a medical emergency.”

“Really?” Patrick asked. “I’ve always thought of the Sisters as the most nurturing community presence - but now that you say that, I can’t count many times I’ve seen them actually offer a hug. An encouraging squeeze of the arm, perhaps, or a parcel of food or clothing if it serves.”

“We were expected to love as God loves, of course,” Shelagh said. “But there were ways we could do that while staying ‘holy and separate.’ Or so I was taught.”

“It would appear that whichever Sister was in charge of your lessons isn’t instructing anymore.”

“No, she’s long gone, may she rest in peace. And perhaps this new embrace of - well - embracing others is more of a Nonnatus trend than a result of any teachings from the Mother House. Still, it caught me by surprise tonight.” Shelagh tucked her head into the crook of Patrick’s neck as she finished speaking.

Patrick kissed Shelagh’s temple. “Because you were uncomfortable?”

“Because I was jealous,” Shelagh replied. She closed her eyes briefly to hide her embarrassment at saying so, but when she straightened up and looked at Patrick again, she saw nothing but understanding in his eyes, emboldening her to go on. “I spent ten years of my life keeping my distance from other people, believing it was the right way to show my devotion to God and my vows to Him. Still, I saw every moment I could have hugged a frightened mother and didn’t, or every moment I refrained from comforting one of the resident nurses at Nonnatus. I didn’t even let you hold me in public for the first year of our marriage because I was afraid everyone would think I was so starved for affection that I left the church the first time a man so much as looked at me. And now the Sisters can just casually curl up with the nurses on the couch in the parlour?”

Shelagh couldn’t restrain her frustrated tears any longer. Before the first of them were even finished trickling down her cheeks, she found herself wrapped in Patrick’s arms, her head cradled against his shoulder. He murmured soothing nonsense in her ear, assuring her he was in no rush for her to pull herself back together.

“I’m sorry, Patrick, I got you soaked,” Shelagh said once she was finally able to sit upright again.

Patrick wiped her cheeks with his thumbs. “You’ve done nothing wrong. I see the reasoning behind what you were taught as a Sister, but good intent doesn’t make up for years of you suppressing instincts that are now being supported by that very same institution.”

“Thankfully, I’ve also had years to work on retraining myself,” Shelagh said, a tentative smile on her face. “You’ve been quite helpful there.”

Patrick’s forehead crinkled. “I have?”

“Maybe not in so many words, but you reached for my hand when I was still afraid to name what I was feeling for you. You wrapped me in your coat when I was lost and cold on the road back to Poplar. You’ve held me time and time again as I’ve cried without me having to say a word - not five minutes ago, even! You have shown me that physical affection can be simple, natural, and meaningful, and it doesn’t diminish the quality of our love or our professionalism.”

“And here I thought I was merely capitalizing on my chances to show my devotion to my lovely wife,” Patrick said, squeezing Shelagh’s hands where they lay in his own. “I’ll always be here if and when you reach out, Shelagh.”

“I know, Patrick. I’ve always known that.” Shelagh leaned up to kiss her husband at that. “And I’m going to let myself reach out to you and to our friends more. I don’t want to give people a show, of course, but I’ve barely let myself hold your hand in public out of concern for propriety. I think we’re still within the bounds of good taste if we go a little beyond that, don’t you?”

“I should say so,” Patrick said, pressing another kiss to Shelagh’s smile. “But I could have a hidden agenda.”

“A hidden agenda? I’m not sure what you mean,” Shelagh teased, rolling onto her back and pulling Patrick on top of her.

“Let me explain.” Patrick leaned down and proceeded to illuminate his agenda quite thoroughly, adding a few items to Shelagh’s own in the process. When they had finally finished, Shelagh curled up with her head on Patrick’s chest, feeling sleep begin to claim her.

“Somehow I don’t think I’m going to add any of what we just did to my ideas of what’s appropriate in public,” she murmured, laughing softly. “But I’m happy for some things to remain just for us.”

“There’s a time and a place for everything,” Patrick agreed.

The last thing Shelagh felt before drifting off was a light kiss to her hair, an action she was all too willing to repeat the next morning as they opened up the surgery. The almost comical look of shock on Miss Higgins’ face in result gave her another reason to keep pushing her former boundaries - after all, where else was she going to find this level of amusement?