#d&d adjacent fiction (?)

[the-knights-of-the-nerds-table]

CHAPTER 7 - The whisper of darkness is becoming louder

Back in the kingdom of Basineth, Eagan was pacing back and forth in the large hallway of the royal palace. King Cradoc was in a meeting, but still, with all the calls he received from the starving people and the poor provisions of the soldier, he wanted to meet with Eagan. The sheer importance of this meeting was making Eagan question every action he made since Lyber’s departure a few days ago. The King was aware of the society of the Cloaks, but if they operated in the eye of the public, they might need to disband the association. 

The door cracked open and from inside, a footman whispered slowly to Eagan that he could come in. The silver doors opened, and just as he was about to enter, with his eyes cast to the carpeted floor, Eagan was pushed and almost knocked to the floor. The man that just left the throne room was mumbling curses under his breath, damning the kingdom in the fires of the Hells, and didn’t even acknowledge the soldier as he exited the castle. 

Looking back over his shoulder, Eagan saw the man wearing court attire, bearing around his neck a big and heavy golden chain with the crest of one of the royal families. The man clutched it tightly as he passed by, and from the looks of it, the trade between the royal court members was starting to diminish with the coming war. 

Heeding no more to the thought of royal pettiness and squabbles between fat bellied entitled lords, Eagan resumed his thoughts about the matter at hand. He walked into the throne room with stiff shoulders and tense muscles, his jaw clenching in anticipation. He kneeled before the throne, not daring to meet the eye of his King, and then slowly stood up, his gaze still cast upon the floor. 

“My dear Eagan, why do you look so grim? In these times I do so miss the laughter in my court,” said Cradoc, his tone calm, but laced with an almost indistinguishable frustration. As he finally raised his head from the ground, Eagan could see the fatigue in his monarch’s eyes, his features plagued by a tiredness and sadness never before seen in his eyes. King Cradoc was still young, of only thirty four years of age, but the sight of war had deteriorated his mellow exterior, made him more rough and sombre.

To his right, a hand on the back of the throne, standing straighter than a spear was a dragonborn. It looked like a soldier, its scales being littered with scars, and it wore an armour of dark steel, and at its hip bore a curved blade. Eagan could feel its sharpness only by looking at it. The sight of the dragonborn rattled the soldier, and concern could be read on his face. As it was his instinct, Eagan put a hand on the handle of his sword in anticipation.

“I have called upon you to ask about your assignment,” said Cradoc. Though his tone was calm, a seriousness could be detected. The King was expecting progress and haste, but that was unfortunately the biggest lack in Eagan’s tasks. Time was of the essence.

“Your majesty, my men departed only yesterday. They shall reach the port at the end of the month if they hurry,” he said. His gaze darted between the King and the stranger. It wasn’t known for dragonborns or yuan-ti to grace the lands ruled by men. All races were welcome in Basineth, but with the war clinging to the border of the kingdom, the people fled, looking for peaceful lands in Drausalsa. There was no stable monarchy in that land, and the horrors of battle haven’t yet grazed the kingdom. And yet, right there before him stood the soldier. The dragonborn’s eyes were filled with interest and curiosity.

“Pardon my boldness, your majesty, but is it in order for a stranger to be present when discussing the good of our kingdom?” asked the man.

“Be not afraid of our ally, Eagan. This is Sathryn. In the last battle, he aided me and my men. He has powerful knowledge of our enemy, and I have appointed him to help with our battle plans.”

At the sound of his name, the dragonborn stepped down from the pedestal and faced Eagan. Sathryn was taller, his scales of a dark grey and eyes of the deepest shade of green. They reminded the soldier of the trees in the forest where he used to hunt, the smell of pine and vegetation and the thrill of the unknown that awaited behind the curtain of timber. Eagan shaked his head with a short nod, as if to eradicate his thoughts, returning to the task at hand. 

Sathryn approached confidently, a smile adorning his scared face. He held out his hand, waiting for Eagan to shake it. In a moment of hesitation, the soldier wavered, keeping still, but he did not want to make his King see the mistrust, and so he shaked the dragonborn’s hand. Eagan raised his head to analyse the newest addition to the list of allies. He could not tear his eyes away from the pink slash mark that littered his right cheek, a permanent memory of the battlefield. 

As the King sighed, Eagan regained focus and let go of the dragonborn, looking back at his King for guidance. He did not want to go against the words of Cardoc, but trust was something that was not easy to earn these days. The dark armour the dragonborn wore reminded the soldier of all the hordes of orcs and ogres he had to defeat when he met with Kanaan’s armies.

“I want Sathryn to join the Crimson Cloaks. He has spent a great deal of time next to me and I truly believe he will be of help to us. He indeed has agreed to become part of the society, but only if you were aware of it,” said Cardoc. He was requesting Eagan to consider him as a new member, but truly, he was ordering the soldier to accept this change. 

“My liege, I trust your guidance, but I do not know if a stranger should know our plans,” started Eagan, but was soon interrupted by the King.

“As a leader to my people and King of this country, I would advise against standing up to my counsel, dear soldier. Sathryn has provided me with information I would have not acquired elsewhere,” Cardoc said roughly. The frustration has risen and Eagan could tell that he has already reached a decision. It was no time for petty arguments, and the kingdom needed all the help it could get. 

The soldier bowed to the King, and as he stood up, Eagan looked at the dragonborn. His features showed no emotion, but his eyes sparkled in amusement and interest. The King requested that the quarters of the society should be shown to Sathryn, and that he should be informed of all the plans made up to date. Eagan, though bitterly unsatisfied by his new tasks to tour around a new recruit, could not help his curiosity. What was this dragonborn bringing to the table? More bloodshed or a chance at peace.

As he turned around to leave, he could feel Sathryn’s eyes burrowing in his back. They both stepped out of the throne room, going into the enormous hallway that was full of tapestries and golden armours. As soon as the footmen closed the heavy silver doors, Eagan turned to the dragonborn and faced him, a hand pointing in the middle of his plated chest. 

“Listen, I don’t know how you came about in the King’s life, but the safety of my people is my number one priority, and so help me the gods if you dare to put anyone in harm's way I will make sure you will wish you were never born,” he spat, but Sathryn smiled at him, only adding fuel to the fire.

“I am sure you want all the best for the King and country, but the way you flare up is just adorable. Trust me, I have nothing but the best intentions, and I swore an oath to King Cardoc,” he said, the scar on his cheek elongating and stretching along with his smile. The light that shined from outside illuminated his sharp teeth, only adding to the distrust in Eagan’s heart. 

The soldier turned his back, walking away to the secret entrance of the sewers. He could not hear a second pair of steps behind him, and at first felt relieved, but the pained and tired face of his ruler plagued his mind like a ghost, and so, looking back in the long hall, he met the eyes of the dragonborn, and curtly shaked his head, a sign for him to follow. 

'tis finished!! hi, so this took a while to upload and as i said, school is sending me in a huge writing slump, but i will be back after things slow down

bye!

[acesinferno]

What if (Portgas D. Ace X Reader)

I made a big long post talking about how just a simple little phrase affects my everyday life. So I'm going to start putting it to use and maybe doing a 'what if' series for my favorite characters from One Piece. Like I said in the post all of this writing is for my own comfort, but I'm posting it in case someone like me who spends all their time reading fan fiction wants something to read.

Synopsis: Ace lives after Marineford but has to deal with the deaths of people on the crew dying. His best friend and partner is there to comfort him when he feels responsible.

Additional stuff: Hurt/Comfort and Fluff

Potential Trigger Warnings and other mentions: Mentions of Death, Spoilers for Marineford Arc, Grieving, Strong Language, Bathing/Washing

Word count: 2.5K

Pairing: Portgas D. Ace X GN! Reader

"Ace?" You call out as you walk into his cabin. It's been almost three weeks since Marineford and the deaths of your captain, Whitebeard, and so many other good people on your crew. Ace hasn't stepped out of his cabin since. Marco has had to go in to even change his bandages. 

"What?" He snaps as he turns his head toward you at the door. He looks like a total mess. His hair looks like a rat's nest, his face puffy and red from crying, and he just looks completely miserable. 

"Brought you some food." You motion to the tray of food in your hand. Ace never turns down a good meal. You walk over to his bed and sit down on the edge of it. He doesn't meet your gaze as you get a better look at him. His cheeks are gaunt and pale. The color and life you've grown accustomed to in them are gone. He looks to be a shell of his former self. 

"Don't really want to eat right now, partner. Thanks, though." He sighs. You set the tray down on the blanket adjacent to him and scoot closer to his side. He barely even glances up as you move. Once you're completely side by side next to him, you make a point not to look at him. 

"Ace. Talk to me. I really can't stand seeing you like this. It's not like you whatsoever." You tell him, blindly reaching to grab his hand and hold it in your own for reassurance. He mumbles something entirely incoherent. "What? I didn't hear you?" You question. 

"I said it's my fault! It's all my fault! If I hadn't been set to be executed, then no one would have gotten hurt! No one would've died! Pops would still be here!" He cries out. Ace has always held himself to a much higher standard than anyone else, thinking he has to work hard for people's love and approval. 

"Ace.... What happened, it wasn't your fault. Everyone there knew the risks that were included to get you back; we didn't care. We chose to risk our lives because we wanted to save you. End of story." You tell him. "Tell me. If it was Marco on the chopping block or Jozu or even Whitebeard himself, would you have wanted to leave them?" You ask him with a pout.

"That's completely different, and you know it." He scowls as he speaks. His arms going up to cross over his chest in a huff. He's glaring at the side of your head as you continue to face forwards. 

"How is it different?" You interrogate. "I don't see a difference. In fact, it makes total sense. You're the second division commander, Ace. That's not a title to let go of lightly. You're a high-ranking officer in the crew." You state, he scoffs as you bring up his rank. "You're also our family, Ace. Pops called you his son; that's not something to forget either. You're also my best friend in this whole world." You admit. 

"So many people died. So many good crewmates, including our captain. I'm not worth all of that." He winces. When you finally look over at him again, you see tears forming in his eyes. Ever the caring best friend, you lift your hand and cup his face in your palm. 

"You think you get to decide that? The people who fought to save your life decided what you were worth, and it was a whole damn lot." You grin at him. "So are you going to tell them they're wrong? Going to sit here and rot in your bed when people sacrificed themselves to see you continue to live and to thrive? I don't think that's very grateful at all, Ace." You explain as you caress his cheek with your thumb. "Make 'em proud, Ace. I know you have it in you." You voice your opinion on him out loud to break through to him. 

"It's not that easy." He proclaims. "I still feel like shit for getting put on the chopping block in the first place. I'm not just going to magically feel better about myself. They're still gone. Not coming back." He explains with an exasperated sigh, his hands on his chest, falling to his lap. 

"I didn't expect you to magically feel better, Ace. No pretty words can fix every feeling you have in an instant. You've got to work for it. Work to feel better and to learn to cope properly. But hoarding yourself away in your room and wasting away isn't the move." You profess. "Ace, it's going to take time. I know that; you know that. But you don't have to go through this alone. I'm right by your side." You tell him. Your other free hand goes to the other side of his face to force him to look you in the eyes. 

"What if I can't do it? What if I can't move on from this? You'd be wasting your time on a lost cause, partner." He looks so vulnerable as some of the tears start to fall down his freckled cheeks. 

As your thumb comes up to wipe the tears off his cheeks, you reply with a whispered tone. "What if you can, Ace?" He looks shocked. "What if you can move on from it? What if you prove Pops and everyone else right? What if you continue to live and make them all proud? Did you ever think of that?" You question. Tears are streaming down his face at a constant rate now as he takes in your words. 

Before he can fully gather his thoughts and respond, you move your hands from his face and wrap around his torso and pull him into a hug. He so obviously needed one. "Besides, you've still got Luffy to watch out for. Can't have you stuck in bed for the rest of your life. He needs his big brother." You laugh lightly as you hold him against you. He doesn't even try to respond as he soaks your shirt in tears.

"You've got your whole life ahead of you, Ace. So many people who wanted to see what amazing things you can accomplish. It's worth a try. I mean, really, what have you got to lose?" You hum as you hold him, rubbing soothing circles into the skin on his back. Running your hands up and down his Jolly Roger tattoo. "I'm sure Pops is waiting in the afterlife to see what great things you'll achieve." You announce with a smile on your face.

He nods against you as his sobs get louder. You can tell he just needed to let this all out. He's been bottling this up for weeks now. As you sit there and hold him, you begin to hum soft sea shanties to calm him. His sobs quiet into soft cries and then go silent, but he doesn't move against you. When you look down, you realize Ace has fallen asleep against you. You can't tell if it's his narcolepsy that knocked him out or if it's just been a long time since he's slept. Just the state of him lets you know how rough he's been on himself after everything. 

As you hold him, you begin to think it's more of the latter. You maneuver the two of you down on the bed and cover you both up, careful of the food you brought in. He's sleeping soundly pressed up against you, though he's lying completely limp. You decide to watch over him for the next few hours, foregoing your own sleep to make sure he gets peaceful rest. 

It's going to take a long time for him to fully recover and be back to his old self, but with you there by his side, you're sure everything will work out. You won't let your best friend stay in this hole forever. No way, no how. 

After about nine or so hours of him sleeping, he wakes up to the sun rising through his porthole window. He looks groggy as he wakes up, blinking like he's confused about what he's cuddled up to. "Good morning, Ace." You say in a teasing tone. "Someone cried himself to sleep in my arms last night. You must have been exhausted." You giggle. His face turns red as he averts his eyes from your gaze.

"Come on. I'm not letting you mope any longer." You tell him. "We're getting you a bath and taking you to Marco's office so he can change your bandages." You declare as you get out of the bed and grab his hands to drag him out with you. He groans as you pull him out but stands before he can fall onto the floor. 

"Marco's left me the stuff here to change the bandages myself. Do I really have to go to his office?" He whines as he gets yanked further into the bathroom. As you let go of him and start to fill the tub up with warm water, you look up and see the state of his bandages. 

"Have you even changed them once since he left the stuff?" You ask as you see how grimy they look. "It looks like you've laid down on the deck and rolled in the dirt everyone's tracked on." You comment. Once the water is filled up to an adequate level, you turn your attention to him completely. You begin to unravel all the bandages and see the damage that's left after this past month of healing.

Though his wounds look ten times better than when he first acquired them, there's still a long way to go until his physical health is back to its' peak. A lot longer to go for his mental health as well, that you know for sure. You try not to stare too long as you take in the yellow healing bruises, the large burns on his chest and back from Akainu's attacks, and the scrapes and cuts from some kind of sea stone weapons. 

"Come on. Let's get undressed and take a bath together." You grin at him. He blushes a bright red but doesn't object. He sees you take off your clothes first and climb into the tub. "Hurry up and get in, Ace; you look like someone's dragged you through a puddle of mud." You motion for him to get in the bathtub in front of you. He sighs but follows your instructions. He quickly sheds his shorts and climbs in with you. 

The water is already steaming warm, but just having Ace in with you seems to make it feel even hotter. As you grab the washcloth and begin to suds it up, Ace relaxes and leans back against you. He's completely boneless against you. You begin to clean him up at a slow pace so he can enjoy the feeling of being taken care of. 

Starting with his face, then moving down to his neck and collarbones, and then continuing your trail down his body, cleaning off all the dirt and muck on him. As soon as you're done with his skin, you move onto his shaggy hair. Normally looking pretty greasy, you decide it's high time you clean it and get the knots out of it. 

You have to start at the bottom and work your way up. Slowly going through each piece of his hair and working out the tangles with your finger, you know you're going to have to brush it when you get out to totally get the job done." Always had such greasy hair before, Ace. Wonder what it's going to look like shampooed and conditioned." You tease him lightly as you continue to lather his hair up thoroughly. 

"Maybe if you shut up and kept working, we'd know quicker." He scoffs with a blush on his face. You can tell you embarrassed him there with your words. You continue your ministrations for a few more minutes until you know it's time to rinse it out. You grab the hand-held sprayer and hose him down, taking good care not to get any in his face. After he is rinsed, you begin the process all over again with the conditioner. 

"Don't get feisty with me, Ace. I'll drown you like a wet dog with this thing." You threaten as you motion to the sprayer. He rolls his eyes and makes no motion to react. After a few minutes lathering his hair up again, you rinse him one more time. "Alright, hot shot. Get up. Going to have you dry off, and then I'll bandage you back up. Where's the stuff Marco left?" You quiz him. 

"Should be on my dresser, near the door." He sighs and stands up and gets out to dry off. You quickly move out as well. Grabbing the towel and going out to grab the care package, while you're out there you grab him some underwear and soft sweatpants and borrow yourself some clothes as well. You quickly slip on the stolen clothes and make your way back to where he is waiting. He's leaning against the sink counter with a towel wrapped around his waist. You set Marco's supplies on said counter and quickly get to work applying burn cream and soothing ointments to the wounds that litter his skin. 

Ace makes no motions of pain or any indications at all that you're even there. He's staring straight ahead into the wall as you begin to wrap him up in the bandages. "Hey, partner?" He speaks up in a soft tone. "What if I want to try? What if I want to get better, to not waste their sacrifice?" He gulps; his voice is quieter than usual, like he's scared of your reaction. 

"Then I'll be right here to support you every step of the way, Ace. Simple as that." You tell him as you tie up the bandages that are wrapped around him. As soon as you're done and stand back up straight, you're wrapped in a strong hug and caught up in a kiss. The hug was something you'd come to expect from Ace, but the kiss was new. It was filled with love and passion as you began to kiss him back. 

He pulls back first, breathless. "Thank you." He whispers out against your lips. "For always standing by my side. I know I'm a lot to handle. Luffy got that after me. But you've never once doubted me. It's going to be a long road ahead to get fully better, but I want to travel it with your help." He sniffles, tears pricking his eyes again as he leans back in to place another chaste kiss against your lips. 

He's right; the road would be long to recover fully from the losses, the grief, and the guilt. However, there's no one better to walk through it with than with a partner by your side. Ace just lucked out and found the best partner in the world to help him. And you, well, you got him. The greatest partnership of all.

[nostalgicmiscellaneous]

Lol as someone who actually works in the industry: you guys are very, very naive if you believe a tumblr blog would tell you secrets about the behind the scenes of Bridgerton for a bubble of specific fans, and even less that someone who actually have access to executives would be around telling so many incorrect stuff that can be proven wrong with some clicks. And would tell you about the actors that way, while working for Netflix. It's hilarious because production is segmented, there are different crews as well, and it simply wouldn't have production/executive inside information if it worked close enough to the actors day by day to know them, and they wouldn't work with all of them to know them personally, repeatedly in the way it says, as the teams are the same for a long time and they all have made their opinions on actors very clear. It's so stupid that it made the mistake of telling you all it doesn't work with crew. They really don't know how a production of a show works and it's funny to see anyone believing it. Then again, only Kanthony and Benophy fans do.

Not only that, contradicting not simply Netflix's news of profitability and success of Season 3, but in fact, actual market news and data releases, Investments prospects, and investors reports, plus licensing, that anyone with any inside information would know it's done publicly and show the actual success and profit delivered by Season 3. To even try to say it lost money, Lol. The data is there, if you worked in a exec. position, even management position, you wouldn't say something so ignorant.

Critically, official certified critics, and audience numbers averaged above Season 2 and on par with Season 1, and you can also check the aggregate of that on RT, IMDB, sites that reunited and average the score. Audience is measured not only by Netflix, but Luminate and Nielsen. Data that is ALSO PUBLIC. And that showed the successful amount of views, specially recovering audience that Season 2 had lost. It was also superior to QC. Netflix also ranks #6 ( above Season 2, again) as their most viewed seasons. Another public information.

It becomes evident you're dealing with a fan of Anthony and Kate and Sophie and Benedict when it spills target hate for particular actors, with nonsense that is so painfully clear from a fandom member, a mere angry fan trying with a insane agenda.

That's the problem when someone has an agenda against some actors and some fictional characters, a TV show, specifically a season. They throw away logic and believe anyone.

There is no insider, you have actual market information and investors/ experts that are not even Netflix connected telling you the success of season 3. Anyone who works for the industry would know that. Lol

There is no inside information of actors from that person. All cast and crew, and connected workers, and adjacents from media, PR and more, have their words and testaments to the cast and crew openly at their socials, dismantling their obsessive nonsense, contradicting them. I contradict them, lol, as i've actually met some of them and know their work ethics and behavior.

And most importantly, the so-called ''insider'' is not even from or in the UK…yes, i know exactly what i am talking about. But for now, i wont publish. For now.

Just be aware of bullshit and propaganda with fanwar nonsense. You're dealing with someone who is simply a discontent Kanthony & Benophy fan, and a Simone fan and hater of other actors in the show ( VERY OBVIOUS THE TARGETED HATE), connected ( lol very much connected) to a blog who has adopted the name of "Anti" since the start, who hates Polin. Some people just want to create a narrative, and while they say that Benedict is the most popular and wanted character for the GA, try to justify an eventual less number say it would be S3 fault, when S3 actually revamped the numbers from S2 and had incredible profitability ( again, public data).

But be aware that we know with 100% certainty, people like that do not work for Netflix. They don't even have a clue what a netflix contract is and how it works.

Also, a warning: People should have their faces and real names on when they say things, responsibility is a must, don't you all agree? Sometimes people think they are protected under the anonymity of a tumblr url to lie their hearts out and become desperate later when they have to own personally, with their actual faces and real names, and social reputation, the stupidity of their words.

And in a more fundamental sense, grow up. Tomorrow, someone else can simply create a blog telling the opposite about your favorites, their work, their seasons, it's a game nobody wins when fans act that desperate and stupid, lying and manipulating.

Or worse: perhaps someone with actual information can start posting, and you wouldn't like what they have to say…reflect on that.

[zooblesbutchpuppygirl]

It's midnight I can post this now yayyy :D Anyway me and Zooble have been together for 5 months!! My first real and healthy relationship is with a fictional character but you know what. I am okay with that <3

Proshippers/adjacent dni. 100000 shark attack 🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈 also Zooble self ship doubles dni

Also me getting emotional under the cut lol

These past 5 months have been so much more bearable thanks to Zooble. I'm genuinely doing so much better than I was earlier this year!!! They really have helped me with so much and idk what I'd do without them at this point

I think the craziest part is how they fell in love with me first. I had Very little knowledge of tadc outside of what I'd seen on my dash. I barely even knew any of the characters names. Zooble just like. Randomly popped into my head one day, which finally pushed me to check out tadc

I ended up loving it AND ended up falling in love with Zooble!! idk if there are enough words to even describe just how much i love them. They mean the world to me. They've really helped me cope better, they're helping me learn to manage my symptoms a lot better and through my self ship they're slowly helping me overcome my fear of talking to people!!

Zooble has done so much for me and I'm so thankful that they're apart of my life now. I love them so much <3

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

25 in 2025

here are 25 fiction books (plus 5 nonfiction books, because of who i am as a person!) that i want to read in 2025, color-coded!

The Fic:

Craft: Stories I Wrote For The Devil by Ananda Lima

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djeli Clark

Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Metal from Heaven by August Clarke

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller

Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling

Catchpenny by Charlie Huston

Between Earth and Sky Trilogy by Rebecca Roanhorse

The Future by Catherine LeRoux

A Grace Paley Reader: Stories, Essays, and Poetry

Look No Further by Rioghnach Robinson and Siofra Robinson

Aces Wild by Amanda DeWitt

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

A Cage Went in Search of a Bird

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu

The Archive Undying by Emma Meiko Candon

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Bright by Duanwad Pimwana

How to Dance by Jason B. Dutton

Even Though I Knew The End by CL Polk

Whirlwind Romance by Sam Thompson

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

the blue this year are Just Because books--i've gotten a zillion novellas in the last couple years that i'm super hyped to read, and i do like stacking my reading material with the season, so i'll try to do CAMP ZERO and BLACKFISH CITY while it's still wintry out there.

purple things are still driscoll-adjacent (writing project coded)--either weird or YA or sentient settings or crisis of faith or community, this year (i'm starting to Reach haha)(hopefully i'll finish these revisions this year though!!).

green starts my NaNo prep, because my aro ass is going to write some weird aro horror/romance hot mess in november, and i need Romance Novel Fodder--i've got a few other things on deck as the time approaches, but this is the start of my list for now >:D

The Nonfic, presented with neither pomp nor colorful circumstance:

Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube by Blair Braverman

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

A Taste for Poison by Neil Bradbury

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

shout out to @e-b-reads for promising to tag me, which was apparently all the invitation i needed lmao.

tagging @asexualbookbird, @sixofravens-reads, @alloreli, @agardenandlibrary (although you may have already done this?), and anyone else who wants to play!

[level2janitor]

The Tactiquest Bard

Play tactiquest here!

bards are a fun, oddball character concept you mostly only see in heavily D&D-influenced media - there's not a whole lot of mythological or literary analogues for bards like there are for fighters, wizards, thieves, rangers, etc etc.

they're kind of goofy, almost. a lot of older D&D-adjacent media had them as a joke, or perceived as one - probably the most influential bard character in media is Edward from final fantasy 4, a character whose most memorable ability is that when his health gets low he runs and hides like a coward. not the best look for a class.

so when i set out to design one for tactiquest, these were the design goals and influences i set out to capture:

i think better bard analogues - rather than characters who are explicitly bards and explicitly jokes - are fictional characters who are the emotional heart of their group, the glue that keeps their party together. as the social class, bards should lean into that - this is the power-of-friendship class!

they should be kind of goofy! it's part of the bard identity by this point, and i think it's part of the appeal. not useless, but useful in a way that's more lighthearted or funny than badass.

they're not mages! bards are one of the ways you can play someone close to a normal person who's in over their head on an adventure. you can spec into a few low-level spells if you want, but most of the bard's power is much less flashy.

so here's the end result:

social abilities: tactiquest has no social rules, which is a little bit of a hurdle for a class designed around social interaction - i can't just slap on a big bonus to persuasion checks and call it a day. instead their social abilities change the dynamic of a conversation - you can tease out the emotions of others, learn what social levers a person has for you to leverage, or just undo something stupid you said.

support: because bards tend to take up more session time in social situations, their combat abilities are largely about putting that spotlight on other characters by increasing their effectiveness - the bard themselves doesn't get a ton of "wow, i'm really badass!" moments. most of their combat perks are more about evasion and narrowly escaping danger than actively fighting.

opportune escape lets you be a damsel in distress being rescued by your friends! and also lets you be edward from final fantasy 4. it might be my favorite perk here

another throughline for the support abilities was i wanted them to be the sort of thing that makes the other players go "wow, i'm glad we have this bard around" because that's kinda important for the being-the-emotional-heart-of-the-group thing i wanted them to lean into

[dearorpheus]

What are your favourite vampire stories in all medias — books, movies, anime, non fiction? Love your blog!

literature: la morte amoreuse, théophile gautier the lady of the house of love, angela carter bewitched, edith wharton "the vampire", conrad aiken

non fiction: as always, joyce carol oates' "aesthetics of fear" our vampires, ourselves, nina auerbach vampires, burial and death, paul barber from demons to dracula, matthew beresford "making the implict, explicit: vampire erotica and pornography" by bernadette lynn bosky in the blood is life (i can email this to you if you'd like, i took a scan from my uni's copy)

film, tv, anime: thirst (2009) dir. park chan-wook only lovers left alive (2013) dir. jim jarmusch vampire hunter d: bloodlust (2000) dir. yoshiaki kawajiri fright night (1985) dir. tim holland let the right one in (2008) dir. tomas alfredson ganja & hess (1973) dir. bill gunn the hunger (1983) dir. tony scott a girl walks home alone at night (2014) dir. ana lily amirpour bram stoker's dracula (2000) dir. francis ford coppola the lost boys (1987) dir. joel schumacher penny dreadful (2014-2016) "the wurdulak" from mario bava's black sabbath (1963) la morte vivante (1982) dir. jean rollin nosferatu the vampyre (1979) dir. werner herzog midnight mass (2021) dir. mike flanagan

misc: phillip glass' 1999 ost for dracula witcher 3: the wild hunt's blood&wine dlc: the atmosphere in the night of long fangs quest; the lore of tesham mutna; the bruxae<3; the vocals in the beast of beauclair; regis, dettlaff, orianna...

adjacent/periphery: bataille's blue of noon, kristeva's powers of horror, sade's justine

[remusawoooo]

anon here, excited to read the essay! i asked you because i really like your takes and i see people in the more canon-adjacent parts of the marauders fanbase to complain about the extremes of the fanon one, though personally ive never really seen anything Too extreme, tho thats probably just tantamount to how well i curate my spaces i suppose (ive seen people say that fanon makes remus really “alpha” or makes sirius “bimbofied” and while ive seen hints of those extremes here and there, mostly it looks like it varies from person to person. ive just seen remus be more assertive than he probably is in canon, or sirius being more dramatic and “fem” than he probably is in canon). from what i know people like exaggerating events (the prank, etc.) or shifting some personality traits, but i dont really think thats a bad thing - i personally enjoy it. as long as they dont completely turn characters into stereotypes (though its a pitfall of every fandom, i fear), then whatever its just camp.

people are allowed to criticize stuff like that though, not taking that away from anyone, i personally just dont really care enough to be totally accurate esp since this hyperfix is kind of the bottom of the barrel for me LMAO. but i ask mostly bc im just curious to see what other peoples opinions are, and bc i think - especially in a fanbase like this - that its incredibly important to be at least a little critical with your media experience and reflect on it. saying “oh fuck canon we’re just having fun” is fine and all, i dont think anyone is stopping you, i think the personalities people have made up for characters that have zero screen time are super fun and the little ships are not everyones tea but like its fine. but even still, people should be way more aware of what characters theyre dealing with and from what franchise, and like reflect on any biases you may have. if youre making shit up for a random DE character, or retconning some sutff, okay, whatever, but be sure to not defend or like suddenly turn to really weird rhetoric. idk i think its the bare minimum in a fanbase like this

i definitely rambled way too much here, super sorry op! i hope this doesnt bother you, feel free to reply or feel free to not. i just really like hearing peoples thoughts on things, and i like your takes and your blog so i hope i didnt catch you by surprise. i really am just an outsider trying to look in LOL

hello anon, I'm sorry I lost your ask. I was writing on my laptop and saved the draft (but apparently had to press on alt, and didn't do it) so I basically lost your question and half of my initial response. Ty for sending in another ask!! Not a bother at all, i find this very lovely :D 

I was mortified to find that someone who isn't really a part of the fandom was perceiving me while I was complaining about fictional characters ahahaha. still, thank you for validating me and asking my thoughts on the mischaracterization of marauders!! I do talk about it daily, unfortunately, and without any prompt too. I'll try to gather all my thoughts here. I don't necessarily come across fanon as much as I did when I reentered the fandom and honestly, I can not be more with you about curating your space !! at the end of the day, I am just here to have fun, and really, pointing out these issues is not a good time at all! But I do post a lot about these, I can't be bothered to bottle up any thoughts lol.

I think the major issue I have with current interpretations is the underlying bigotry that comes along with it. There is a lot of unchecked problematic content that doesn't sit right with me.

Flanderizing characters in fandom interpretations is not limited to marauders fandom obviously. any popular media will face this because so many of us want to interact with one character so their traits are simplified for easier consumption and to find a common ground. this is also not limited to new marauders fandom. even in the older era, leather jacket-wearing, motorbike-driving quintessential bad boy siruis was a thing. so I won't nitpick on silly simplifications.

I just want to say that this isn't about me wanting everyone to have the same interpretations as I do about the canon. I follow so many lovely people and I don't agree with all of their posts. But, we all just simply share the love for these characters in the text and form an imaginary community. So, if we were to remove all the issues I will mention, it is still very well possible to have different personal takes.

Here are some of my issues:

Queerness, Gender roles, and misogyny:

My biggest problem is the representations of queer relationships. the fandom packages these couples in a strange and obvious heteronormative mold where the individuals fit into male and female gender roles. mlm and wlw are now an “f/m”* stereotype and characterization gets affected by the ships. Heterosexual relationships shouldn't have these limitations either, anyway. There is no one way to be a woman or a man. With queer relationships in particular, we have reclaimed the word queer now but it was used to describe the unconventional weirdness in the relationship. We didn't fit into the normal portrayal of a loving relationship. So, it really bothers me, even in fiction, that queer ships are popularly consumed in a way that represents a traditional template. (*this is not about gender itself but the gender roles! f/m can very well be queer!). 

Let's take the biggest victim in this fandom: sirius.

Sirius’ portrayal concerning his gender and sexuality has heavily changed his characterization in the fanon. We have a character who is popularly headcanonned as trans and is it a coincidence that all their traits have changed from the og material? Sirius is suddenly vain, whiny, and dumb. Canon doesn't suggest this interpretation, it has to have stemmed from somewhere. It's the implicit bias. Sirius becomes a caricature of what a woman “should be”. When we focus on sexuality, there is the suddenly short twink sirius who has the same new traits- proving the point of fulfilling gender roles. These characteristics are a stand-in for the “female” role of the traditional relationship and it becomes more clear in the example of new age wolfstar. Remus is now the big alpha stoic manly man- the obvious stand-in for the “male” role. I could go on, it is apparent in the way you can see remus becomes a caretaker and sirius is taken care of.

The point I am trying to make is not to discourage gender/sexuality hc. I love them, keep them coming. But, why is female sirius not tall suddenly? It is not inherently bad at all to have a feminine and masculine pairing! But why do we need to change the constitutions of these characters to consume their relationship?

I'll keep dropping disclaimers because I hate being misinterpreted: I don't obviously mean every single person is doing this or that doing one of the things means doing the other too. 

Race:

It is related to the point above. I was personally so excited to see the popular desi james hc. Even in fanon, I have never seen such a prevalent and encouraged brown rep, it was quite sweet to come back to that. But the problem is the change of characteristics that comes with race hc. Desi james is also a manly dude who is big and buff as opposed to the white petite and delicate regulus within jegulus ship. The melanin is directly proportional to the manliness here. 

This is a propagation of race stereotypes. Maybe jegulus was a bad example because usually there are seen as blank templates. I will raise the argument that this can't be all we can come up with for blank canvases then. Either way, my point about race still stands when you repeatedly design interracial queer relationships so they fall into heteronormative roles. Anyway, same issue with wolfstar when there is a brown remus.

Canon, JKR, and hypocrisy:

Refusing to engage with source material is funny when we are picking characters out of it. the interpretations of the characters will be from their book. otherwise, they are just original characters with the same name. you can add onto the traits and a lot of the time fandom comes to a consensus regarding a few things! This is common in every fandom but I don't think I have seen such reluctance to not only critically engage with media but also shame others who do. We are surely in special circumstances with this fandom but I really do think jkr and how we navigate the fanon should be two different things.

Most of us don't condone jkr or even remotely agree with any nonsense she spews on the daily. Most of us can see the problematic nature of even consuming this media and staying in this fandom. It is one of the reasons I even left the fandom. Most of us are simply doing our best to engage carefully while distancing ourselves from her. So, it is quite laughable when some love to take the moral high ground for rejecting canon while still engaging with the same characters. (the rejection of canon in question being sirius’ height, lol)

(Sirius' height is quite a polarising fact apparently. Unfortunately, the point about height is also discussed so disingenuously. When I talk about sirius’ height, it is not really about him being 6 or 7 feet. It will not really impact my life. It is about what it represents. He is bimbofied as he becomes short. It's an issue of "WHY" again.)

Of course, this isn't an accusation of intentional bigotry from everyone here. The problem with this fandom is that the people in it tell themselves that it is progressive and to run away from the problematic creator as much as possible. We are not progressive if all we do is co-opt queer and racially diverse identities on such a superficial level. The bias manifests in subtle forms. I just wish we check ourselves from time to time, that's all. 

There is a lot of hostility when we try to discuss issues in the fanon. Things are interpreted in the most misguided way to just win the argument. Like I said in the beginning, we all just want to have a good time. That also means creating a welcoming space for vulnerable groups (especially when the same identities are used to pat yourselves on the backs for inclusivity points). I didn't even cover everything btw, I just wrote about the issues that concern me. queer and poc also partake in biased representations, I also probably have some biases that I didn't identify yet. I just think it would be super neat if everyone tried to make an effort to unlearn and engage with media without hurting anyone. 

I have other issues but they are all just super subjective opinions and smth I can ignore when others do. ex: I really don't like giving tragic backstories to bigots in the story. Not every supremacist loser has a trauma that forced them into oppressing people! There is also "tropeyfication" of all major ships. Just an overall issue in the reading world I think, though.

Anon, I didn't mean to make it preachy in any way btw. You probably asked for a silly little rant and I went full lecture mode, so I apologize for the tone shift!! I mentioned these because every other issue can be brought down to these imo. Like you said, I also don't have any fixation on everything being canon-compliant. I only complain by asking about the thought process behind certain kinds of changes, if that makes sense! I hope this wasn't a drag really and you can see where I am coming from. If I misspoke anywhere, pls lmk. Thanks for sharing your opinions too!!

This is a long long rant, anyone who read everything, you are wonderful and patient. Thank you for taking the time. This huge post and the content can make you think, “who cares this much?” or “it's not that serious” and yaa it really isn't that serious. The characters aren't real but we all are. the identities projected are real. so, it does matter to talk about this.

Everything said this is a fun place to be once you find your own corner in the playground.

[hivemuthur]

So I just did a doomscroll on Instagram league and seen a post about Viktors Canon zodiac sign is Aries in arcane lore, like omg I've never been so invested over a fictional character's zodiac sign 😭

Also my chance to ask what is yours? If u don't mind me asking <33

As far as I know, LOL characters celebrate their b-days on the days their champions joined the League, so Viktor's (sorta?) canonical birthday would be 29th of December? Which suits him much better than Aries honestly, even adjacent signs don't make much sense for his star chart to make up for Aries Sun. For Capricorn even adjacent signs work better, I am much more convinced by his Asc. or Moon being in Sagittarius or Aquarius than Taurus and Pisces. I'm not much of an astrologer, but my flatmate is, so I absorbed some knowledge through osmosis :d

So, I HC Viktor as a Cap, it also aligns well with my Freaktor agenda >:) And I'm a Virgo x4 :3

[lyonnerileyauthor]

Hi! I have a question - how many years (and pen-names(?)) it took you to be able to "get food from writing smut". Also were your first books also about monsterfucking? :D

And I know this is your successful penname. Did you do anything differently so this one got attention? Or was it more of a steady improvements over the years?

I have been writing original books since 2010 or so (that is, not fanfiction) and got my first publishing deal in 2012 (which did not work out). I didn't go full time/freelance with my writing until 2013, but that was doing marketing stuff and not fiction. in 2014 I got my first traditional book deal, but it paid like shit (as did all my traditional book deals) and I continued doing freelance marketing writing in the meantime.

those books were published under my real name and none of them went anywhere. they were too weird, too out there, and got very bad reviews. (there's one that's monsterfucking-adjacent, and it was an abject failure.) I won't go into detail, but definitely what monster fuckers LIKE about my books are the things other people HATE about my books.

so I think it was all about simply finding my place, where my weird is accepted and appreciated. not to sound like a hipster, but I am just not made for mainstream readers.

I'm sure there was also a lot of steady improvement along the way, too, that led me to where I am now. I've been writing my whole life and I still see improvement in my work all the time.

[the-knights-of-the-nerds-table]

The Song of Swords and Souls: Full Chapter List

teo | student | fantasy fan | d&d enthusiast | they/them | writer | multifandom

all of my writing | headcanons and ideas | oneshots | teo talks :3

the song of swords and souls

prologue

chapter one

chapter two

chapter three

chapter four

chapter five

chapter six

chapter seven

chapter eight

[blizzardtheartisticfox]

Description Post

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ASKS FOR DONATIONS I cannot help you and it makes me feel bad https://www.tumblr.com/homocidalpotat/762038582558982144/same?source=share

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, hello there! I’m Bliz, artist and fandom fanatic. I usually use she/they pronouns, and I’d like to experiment with a neopronoun I like: xse/xsr.

If I like a post and you don’t see a rb, it’s probably in my queue. I like to queue things. I think it helps keep posts alive for longer.

I’m panromantic and omnisexual and genderfaer if anyone cares. My current main fandoms are hermitcraft (mostly Grian and Joel) and the Sonic the Hedgehog movies. I should post some art sometimes! I like and sometimes reblog a lot of hermitshipping content because I enjoy it, but I DO NOT actually ship ANY of the real people. I enjoy it as a joke tho :P. If anyone opposes shipping stobotnik they are either homophobic or simply ignorant /hj but like they’re borderline canon.

Asks open, please send me art suggestions, headcanons, stories, questions, etc! Do note that I can’t promise any fast responses unless I am struck with incredible inspiration. Literally send me anything though. I do not, however, have the ability to donate to you at the moment, and while I hope that those of you who need help can get it, I am not the one to approach for that.

This blog will have little to no NSFW and very little political content. The only politics I will reblog is LGBTQ+ support, maybe with some exceptions. I will always tag political rbs

tags: Bliz draws lines, Bliz says words

fan fictions:

hollow tree fanfic (very wip and on hiatus please tell me if you want it because I need to rewrite and I need inspiration)

Explosions vs Lattes- stobotnik fic, very angsty and very gay. Idk what else to say.

Mcyt clips sideblog: @grian-joel-clips-plus pretty self explanatory

Plurality Sideblog: @afrostybrainspace I wanted it to be an askblog please go check it out! This is very learn-more-about-us, and exists for me to learn more about myself. Your inputs and questions would be appreciated

Alterhumanity sideblog: @thoriumissoftright kinda just there for posts about my Alterhuman experiences and for furry-adjacent reblogs i know not everyone will want flooding their feed :3

People that I cannot recommend more:

@/shepscapades @/blueishspace @/kitsuneisi @/setacin

Fandoms: Hermitcraft, life smp, portal, D&D (+DragonLance), Warrior Cats, MLP, Demon Slayer, Miraculous Ladybug et Chat Noir, Voltron, Sailor Moon, Toilet Bound Hanako-kun, Minecraft, Imperial Radch, Keeper of the Lost Cities, Dragonriders of Pern, Marvel (Miles Morales, Gwen, Movies and Shows), Sonic the Hedgehog movies (+Snapcube), Helluva Boss, Hazbin Hotel, and probably more I can’t think of rn

Pfp maker at: https://picrew.me/share?lcd=vPrznZRIlq #Picrew #BAYDEWS_avatar_maker_V2

Header by @/cluuny

Stole most of those off of @m0ther-of-p3arl and one off of that one pride banner maker blog that I can’t remember the name of

From @/gogh-save-the-bees and @/tameable50 ⬆️

Uncredited ⬇️

From @/the-capricorn-system ⬇️

last edited Jan 20 2025

[heart-2-get]

About Me

Welcome to my blog!

18+ / MINORS DNI

I'm Luna, 24, queer, demigirl, healthcare worker.

YES: light cardiophilia, medfet, gyno, d/s, dd/lg, md/lg, cnc, enemas, breeding, impregnation, breath play, virgin, anal, restraint, voyeurism, sounding, tentacles, oviposition, depth play, lactation, belly bulge, fisting, somno, pet play, mild intoxication (weed, mild sedatives/anxiolytics), knotting, omo (holding only, no wetting), humiliation, light needle play, praise, and sensory deprivation.

NO: resus, dark cardiophilia, necro, furry, scat, anaesthesia, surgery, knife play, degradation, dumbification.

I don't share pictures of myself so don't ask and I don't want to see pictures of you without preamble, either. I don't share my heartbeat unless I choose to, either, so don't ask. If I want to listen to your heartbeat, I'll ask. I don't role play or engage in virtual exams unless I feel like it and I don't do so with complete strangers that I've never talked to before. Just because I'm a kink blog doesn't mean I'm here to fulfill your fantasies or be treated like an object. I'm lots of fun and love to chat but I don't put up with rude or gross behavior. Show a little respect and we'll get along just fine. ♥

Click through the read more for my preferences and feel free to send an ask or DM if you have questions or want to say hello!

XoXo

credit goes to @torture-steth-repeat for this template

Cardiophilia Basics

1. My heart being listened to: yes

2. Listening to others' hearts: sometimes

3. Fast heartbeats: sometimes

4. Slow heartbeats: yes

5. Naturally irregular heartbeats: yes

6. Deliberately irregular heartbeats: hard no

7. Heart via stethoscope: yes

8. Heart via EKG: yes

9. Heart via doppler: yes

10. Heart via ultrasound: yes

11. Carotid (throat) pulse: yes

12. Femoral (groin) pulse: yes

13. Radial (wrist) pulse: yes

Dark Cardiophilia

1. Shocking a healthy heart: hard no

2. Pressure/crushing a healthy heart: hard no

3. Drowning + heart monitoring: only in fiction

4. Suffocation + heart monitoring: only in fiction

5. Choking + heart monitoring: only in fiction

6. Drugs used to affect the heart: hard no

7. Knifeplay + heart monitoring: hard no

8. Needle or injection into the heart: hard no

9. Gunplay (shooting the heart)*: hard no

10. Being dominated (in a cardiophilia way): yes

11. Dominating someone else (in a cardiophilia way): sometimes

12. Consensual non-consent (CNC) play: yes

13. Heart rips*: hard no

14. Fucked into cardiac arrest*: hard no

15. Heart being fucked*: hard no

16. Heart being licked or bitten*: hard no

17. Heart being eaten*: hard no

18. Hands squeezing the heart directly*: hard no

19. 'Unhappy endings' (RIP) for dark cardiophilia*: hard no

Medfet/Resus

1. Blood pressure readings: yes

2. Medical equipment: yes

3. Medical exam roleplay: yes

4. Resuscitation via CPR*: hard no

5. Resuscitation via defibrillator*: hard no

6. Resuscitation via AED*: hard no

7. Cardiac arrest*: hard no

8. Respiratory arrest*: hard no

9. Sex and resus combined: hard no

10. 'Unhappy endings' (RIP) for resus*: hard no

11. Anesthesia*: hard no

12. Breathing masks: hard no

Graphic

1. Open heart surgery footage: hard no

2. Real animal hearts: hard no

3. Real human hearts outside the body: hard no

4. Real human hearts in autopsies: hard no

Adjacent Kinks

1. Gyno medical exams: yes

2. Pregnancy/breeding: yes

3. Belly sounds: no

4. Cardiophilia + furry: no

5. Vampires*: sometimes

6. Necrophliia*: hard no

[drunkewok]

Tiger Inside

Chapter Sixteen

Stray Kids Mafia (ongoing)

Masterlist

Likes, reblogs and feedback always greatly appreciated

WC: 3k

Pairing: Lee Know x reader

Genre: Series, Enemies to lovers, non-idol AU, Mafia AU

Synopsis: After years spent away from the family, two strangers start frequenting your place of work, only to bring daunting news. Flung back into the world of the mafia, you try to adapt to your new normal and work alongside a team of eight skilled members to uncover a mystery and take down an unknown enemy.

Warnings: 18+, Minors DNI, drinking, swearing, violence, weapons

Disclaimer: Any portrayal of Stray Kids or any other idols in this story is purely fiction and does not at all reflect their own personalities or how I view them as a person, it is purely for the sake of the story.

Please do not copy or repost my work

The house felt relatively calm despite the looming mission that tonight would entail, the members casually eating their lunch, others laughing in distant rooms. Yet the twisting knot in my stomach refused to release, the prolonged anxiety of what was to come had finally caught up to me and dug its nails into my shoulders.

The clock on the wall created an agitating tick with every passing second as I was settled in the front room, planted in the seat that Jiho once sat during my first morning in the house. Outside the window, I watched as the trees gently swayed in the wind, the mirrored reflection of relaxation that the house was exuding. I crossed my legs underneath me, my fingers mindlessly picking at my cuticles as my mind wandered, D-Day was here, and it came too fast.

“Noona?” A soft voice behind me caught me by alarm, my head turning to the doorway to a gentle eyed Jeongin standing with a plate and glass in hand. “Chan asked me to bring you a sandwich, you need to eat something before we get ready to head out.” With a slight smile and nod I welcomed him in, taking the glass of water from him as he set the plate on the table beside me. He sat in the seat adjacent to mine, his eyes following my own back toward the window, the two of us sitting in silence for a moment before he slowly turned to me. “What are you thinking about out here by yourself?” I hummed softly as I looked back at him.

“Do you guys not get nervous? Everyone seems so… nonchalant.” I took a sip from the glass, relaxing back into the seat with a sigh.

“Well of course we do, but after a while we learned how to push past it. There’s no shame in feeling that way, especially when it’s your first time.” He picked up the plate, handing it to me. “Chan has a lot of faith in you, we all do. You’re gonna be a strong member of this team, I just know it.”

“Thank you, Jeongin.” I stared at the sandwich before me, trying to find the strength within me to take a bite.

“You really should eat, you can’t go into this on an empty stomach.” His cheeky smile at least brought me some level of comfort, seeing him in this light you would never expect this guy to have the ability to break your neck. “Chan is gonna give us a final rundown soon, I’ll come get you when he’s ready, for now just let yourself relax.” Jeongin patted my knee before standing and leaving me in the silence once more. For how hungry I was, it was surprisingly difficult to stomach the food, my mind sitting somewhere far away and letting my body run on autopilot.

As our meeting with Chan wrapped up, the members all separated to our rooms to get changed, a collection of black clothes to keep us concealed within the darkness of night. I pulled my chest holster over my shoulders before securing the clasp, followed by tightening the harness placed around my thigh and securing my knife within it.

Staring into the mirror, I studied my features, looking into my eyes as the reality of my new living situation settled on my shoulders sunk in. Going into these situations was going to be happening more often, this is only the first of many. I clapped my hands against my cheeks, trying to bring myself back into my body before pulling my hair back into a ponytail, grabbing my gun from the dresser and stepping through my door.

The steps down to the foyer felt like walking a marathon, stretching longer and longer. The door sat open, welcoming me into the night as many of the members shuffled around, trying to get last minute details in order. Some were collecting their weapons, some conversing about different details of the mission. I stood silently, observing those around me in their natural habitat.

“Y/n, I want you riding in Minho’s van.” Chan motioned to the van that Felix, Jisung and Hyunjin were currently crawling into the back of, Minho leaning against the hood as Changbin loaded a few duffel bags into the back hatch before returning to his own van.

Slipping into the passenger seat, I pulled my seatbelt across my chest before taking a deep breath and trying to relax myself into the seat. I watched as Chan and Minho shared a brief exchange in front of the van before Minho pulled himself into the driver’s seat. He spared me a silent glance as he looked down to the belt, making sure it was secured, before turning the key and bringing the van to life.

The drive was painfully quiet as we made our way down the dark streets, following closely behind Chan’s van, the soft click of keys on a laptop behind us as Felix prepped his program to disarm the system once we arrived. Minho continued to glance my way every so often, quickly returning to the road afterwards. I tried not to fidget in my seat, attempting to fumble with my fingers as a distraction as we started nearing our destination.

“Are you properly holstered?” Minho’s voice startled me in the silence, his attention still pointed forward as he spoke to me. I double checked that my gun was securely fixed to my side, my knife pressed to my thigh, and that the straps of my holsters were properly fastened. I gave a weak nod as I quietly gave him a yes. Minho glanced into the rearview towards Felix “We’re 5 minutes out, go ahead and disarm.”

“Got it.” Felix continued to type away, before confirming success and pressing to his ear, speaking into his earpiece. “Radio check everyone.” Each member followed with a confirmation into their radios, my turn falling in line at the end as I gave the final call. My hands balled into tense fists as I attempted to crack my neck side to side, trying to relieve my muscles.

“Changbin and Jeongin are to enter first. Minho, y/n and I are following in next.” Chan’s voice rang in my ear as he radioed the team. “Hyunjin and Jisung, you know your positions. Felix is staying camped in the van for surveillance, Seungmin you’re entering with us as discussed so you can work with us for identification.” Each member responded with a copy as the vans parked. “Felix, are we disarmed?”

“Sure are Boss, cleared to go.” The door of the opposite van opened, Changbin and Jeongin being the first to exit and pull their guns from their holsters. Hyunjin and Jisung pulled their weapons from the back of the van before disappearing into the darkness behind us.

“Com’on, it’s go time.” Minho opened his door, crossing in front of the van and meeting up with Chan, receiving a brief pat on the back before the three of us followed closely behind Changbin and Jeongin. Weapons at the ready by our sides, we neared the large warehouse towering over us, a seemingly unassuming metal structure matching the other buildings along the pier. Jeongin dropped to a knee in front of the side door, carefully picking the lock and allowing Changbin to push past him first into the building.

Changbin slid in slowly, observing the room before entering fully. Jeongin rose to his feet, following closely behind him as we waited for the all clear. No alarms were sounding, indicating the success on Felix’s end.

“Cameras are clear, how does the room look Changbin?” Felix asked as Changbin waved the other three of us in behind him.

“We’re inside, room is clear.” As I passed the threshold, my eyes started to scan the room surrounding us. The lighting was minimal, the small windows placed near the top of the walls providing very little moonlight shining in, just enough to reflect off the metal tables lined around the room.

The contents of the warehouse felt surprisingly sparse, not like the factory I had initially expected. Previous blueprints given to us from Felix indicated that this first room was probably the decoy, our true target farther into the warehouse.

“Secondary door is disarmed, cleared to enter.” Felix radioed as we continued on, a large metal door clicking open in front of us as we followed inside. “You guys will be met with a hall through it, followed by a staircase down to the basement, there’s another door at the base of the stairs, I’ve cleared it. You’re good for entry.” The hall stretched the length of the warehouse, pipes twisted along the walls and wrapped up across the ceiling, a soft blue glow emitting from the occasional lights sprinkled down the hall.

As Changbin reached the stairs, Jeongin followed closely behind, Minho keeping himself planted at the top of the stairs to ensure we had no unwelcome visitors. As we passed through the next door, we were met with a smaller room, walls of concrete encasing us. The same metal tables from upstairs littered the room, this time covered with vials and beakers. Shelving units covered a back wall, Seungmin immediately crossing over to them and beginning to sort through their contents.

“There should be a door to your guy’s left, it leads to their control room. Jeongin, I need you to get in there and plug the thumb drive I gave you into their main system for me.” At Felix’s command Jeongin pulled from the group and disappeared behind the door, Chan following close behind him. I let my feet take me around the perimeter of the room, scanning over the different elements strewn across the tables.

The room felt claustrophobic with its low ceilings and thick walls, the eerie silence echoing off of them. I peeked my head into the control room as Jeongin fiddled with the controls. A large wall of monitors displayed different camera angles around the compound, outside the vans just barely out of their view. I watched as the screens started to glitch, one by one slowly shutting down as Felix gained access into the mainframe. Behind me, Seungmin began pocketing different filled vials from the shelves, intending to bring them home and study them further, while Changbin stood guard at the entry point.

“Cameras disarmed, I almost have full access, just a moment longer guys.” Felix continued coaching us through the headsets, his surprisingly calm demeanor as he clicked away on his system. Changbin and I stayed steady as we awaited further commands, watching those around us as they were posted in their areas.

“Chan we may have an issue, I think they had a silent alarm on the mainframe, something has been tripped.” Felix’s voice rang in our ears once more, his initial calm responses disappearing as they morphed into a little more frantic.

“Changbin and Minho, take y/n upstairs and keep posted up there for when they show up. I’ll stay with Jeongin and Seungmin until Felix is finalized.” Minho gestured the two of us out in front of him as we hurried our way back up the stairs, the nerves settling back into the pit of my stomach.

“Changbin, keep posted by the main door, y/n I need you to take cover somewhere in the main room with a good vantage point, keep yourself hidden and ready.” Minho stayed near the entry off the hall as Changbin made his way back to the main room with me close on his tail.

Ducking behind a cabinet near the corner, I crouched down and confirmed that I had a view of the door through the underside of one of the tables. The wait for an arrival felt like an eternity as we all sat in silence, the unknown of what was to come itching in the back of my head.

“We’ve got two vehicles incoming from the west.” Hyunjin’s hushed voice now rang in my ear, the distraction of our findings causing me to briefly forget his and Jisung’s presence on a rooftop outside. “It appears as though we have seven members, four of which are coming your way, the other three are camping outside.”

“I’ve got the system copied, you guys are good to get out of there.” Felix quickly cut in behind Hyunjin, Chan speaking through the walkies with a copy just before I heard a gunshot ring out outside.

“Open fire as needed team.” Below us, Chan and the rest of his team started to grab whatever intel they could before they made their exit, above ground gunshots echoed through as the opposing team neared closer. Through my line of sight to the door, I could see Changbin in close proximity to one of the new arrivals, pulled away from his post as he took him head on.

Through the distraction, another slipped through the door with a gun drawn, his face barely visible in the shadowed room. I stayed low as I aimed my gun in his direction, right as he took notice of Minho as he ducked for cover. The two of them focused on each other before my shot caught him by alarm and alerting him of another presence, his head whipping in the direction that my bullet came from. Another body entered the room, scanning it with a gun drawn before dropping into cover. The loud crack of one of our sniper rifles rang out, Jisung quickly alerting us of one of their men down.

Chan quickly entered the room, bringing bullets flying with him as he pulled himself into cover and resuming fire. I pressed my back against the cabinet as I tried to steady myself, out of the corner of my eye seeing Jeongin sneak up on one of their members from behind. Pulling myself back into my spot for visibility, my eyes locked on the third member slipping into the room, my gun pointed at him and sending a shot and watching him tumble to the ground. Minho caught the last by surprise, pulling him into a headlock as he struggled to free himself.

“Seungmin, back to the vans. Y/n, I want you out of this room when possible.” Chan’s heavy breathing buzzed in my ears as he made his commands, watching as Seungmin made his break for the door. “How are we looking outside Hyunjin?”

“Changbin took one down, trying to locate the other two, they ducked into cover pretty fast. This doesn’t look like Ateez though, but I can’t make out the team yet”

With Jeongin and Minho having the other two in the room occupied, Chan ordered my exit with him watching my back. I slipped out of the building and around the back, gun pointed forward as I rounded the corner. Surveying the area, I was in a small walkway, a half-wall being my only blockage from the water below. Dropping beside a dumpster, I attempted to compose myself, the adrenaline pumping through my veins sending fire throughout my body.

“Y/n and I took two down inside, one made it out so we’ve got four on the perimeter now.” Minho’s voice was winded as he spoke. “Do we have any location on the others yet?” I kept checking each direction from my location, searching for any signs of possible movement.

“No sir.” I peered around the corner to an adjacent building as Jisung spoke, the muzzle of a sniper rifle just barely visible in the darkness.

“If possible, I want retreat. Avoid further interaction and make it back to the vans. We got what we need, let’s get out of here.” I studied my options in order to follow Chan’s command, I knew if I doubled back towards the vans from the direction I came, I was sure to be intercepted near the door. So pulling myself out from behind the dumpster I started down the back wall of the building, keeping myself low and both hands on my gun by my side.

A shot flies through the air above me, causing me to drop to the ground, unsure of the direction it came from. My heart pounded in my chest, the ringing in my ears still loud from the multiple exposures to gunshots throughout the night.

Praying the shot came from behind, I kept myself near the ground, hoping I was shielded from the dumpster behind me.

“We’ve got three back to the vans, Changbin, Jeongin, Minho, Chan and y/n, we need you guys back so we can take off.” Felix’s voice provided me no comfort as I attempted to continue forward, trying to keep my eyes out for cover, and ears out for movement. Stopping at the end of the wall, I pressed my back to a large container and finally looked behind me, at the far end where I had come from a dark figure came into sight, unsure if they were friend or foe I quickly ducked around the corner before pressing my back firmly against the wall, attempting to focus on calming my heavy breathing to stay quiet as I hid myself. The moonlight reflected off the water, casting a soft cold glow on the surroundings, the air feeling eerily quiet in stark contrast to the violence consuming the night.

“Is anyone able to update me on their locations?” Felix’s voice radioed through my ear, moments of silence following before different members started in their responses. Leaning forward, I rested my hand on my knee, using my other to press the mic and quietly whisper.

“I’m outside, east side of the building.” I squeezed my eyes shut, fingers digging into my knees as I caught my breath. Pulling myself together with a deep breath, I straightened my back and lifted my head towards the water. Observing the gentle ripples in the water, I’m briefly distracted before an arm tightens around my throat from behind, pulling me flush against my assailant's chest as my nails dug into their arm in an attempt to pull the strength away from my windpipe before my ability to fight would fade.

Next Chapter

[shydroid3000]

11, 25, & 30 for the soft ask game? ✨

Ask game

11. Do you have a comfort item? Tell us about it!

Oh haha, yeah, I suppose I do. I have this little stuffed cheetah that my older brother picked out for me when I was first born. It was technically the first gift/toy/stuffie I ever received (not counting things that my parents accrued before I was actually born I guess haha). I still have him to this day and when I was going through a really shitty time a couple years ago I would cuddle him to go to sleep 🙈

25. If your soul was a color, what would it be?

I think I've gotta say blue because it's my favourite. Maybe like a cobalt blue? I like the depth it has. I feel like it conveys something like an amalgamation of wonder and sorrow? (Whether that fits my soul, I don't really know haha. But it's a colour I'm drawn to, at least).

30. What do your hobbies look like?

Ah, well, I'm a sci-fi nerd so watching/reading sci-fi would be a big one. I have a special soft spot for good, campy sci-fi shows, like any of the 90s Trek series. And then adjacent to that, my anime hyperfixations (most of which also fit under the speculative fiction umbrella tbh). I also like writing, and video games. (With games, I tend to go for story-and-character-driven RPGs with meaningful choices, and also thoughtful/quirky/creative indie games).

I'm a major hermit so my hobbies are mostly like... at home alone engaging obsessively in my special interests and hyperfixations haha. Or sometimes hanging out with my partner engaging with some of those same hyperfixations lol. Would it be healthy for me to have more hobbies that bring me out into direct sunlight? Yes, probably. But aside from liking to feed the neighbourhood birds, I mostly like to hole up inside and stay awake till ungodly hours obsessing over a show/book/game haha.

Thanks for the ask!! These ones were fun :D

[afniel]

Since my asks were off (now corrected) one of my mutuals messaged me instead, so...

Also you know what he's fine with it so we're just gonna use our other alter's name finally, who cares. I Do Not Control The Fictional Introject Machine anyway so if someone wants to make it weird for fandom reasons that's their damage, not mine.

👾-Do any alters in your system have typing quirks?

Nah. X types way more formally than the rest of us, and Kanai can't spell for shit without spellcheck (whether this is because he's got the family dyslexia or if it's leftover from his D&D concept, we're not at all sure), but I don't consider either a 'typing quirk.'

I feel a lot of ways about the whole concept and how it's often unnecessary difficult for people using screen readers/people who struggle visually with text for any reason, but I'm not the boss of anybody, I just think there are more and less appropriate times and places for it.

🛸-Do any alters in your system have exo-memories?

"So many. I could do without some of them, but some of them are good, and I wouldn't have the good without the bad, so I still don't think I would wish them away even if I could. It's strange, because logically I know none of it actually happened to me and they're really all proxies for real events that did happen, but even knowing that, they do affect me as if they were literal." — X

"not really but I've been around for what like more than ten years that's enough time to make normal type memories and forget the other ones if I had any. do feel like I should oughta be able to fly though" — Kanai

Yeah that got immediate answers in their own voices, lol. Being the (current?) designated driver aka host but that isn't my favorite word for it, I can't say that I have anything like that either, I don't think.

✨️-Do any alters in your system have an accent?

Kanai has a definite Twang™. It's mostly Appalachian, partly every other Southern and adjacent accent in a blender. I just sound like I've spent a ton of time in northern California, which is true, but I can put the Hoosier or Generic American English Teacher back on as needed. X just sounds generically American.