#day 2 of training camp btw

[wmnylander]

[communixm]

Gang i am feeling bad rn

[layraket]

Day 8 - Sleep Deprivation

Character(s): Four (LU)

Words: 1258

Summary: He doesn’t know what a normal sleep schedule is pls someone knock him out

Whump scale: 1 (see the full scale here)

Warning: Sleep disorders

This is kind of related with this post btw

Part 2 in Day 13

-

Not sleeping was a normal thing for him at this point. Since his first adventure staying up to keep going was almost daily, with only a small break when he couldn’t any more.

His grandpa has scolded him more than once for staying up too late at the forge, forcing him to stay at his room. At least the windows were never locked.

When his second adventure happened, sleeping become something optional.

His curiosity kept him awake during whole nights to continue an interesting book, his energy pleading him to practice with his sword, his heart aching for past memories, and his gut telling him to check if there weren’t any monster attacks around.

It was tiring after a certain point.

Since he joined the chain it was getting easier to sleep, the constant exercise being a big help for him to fall asleep during a full night. When it wasn’t enough, he would always ask to take a shift to keep guard and try to burn all the extra energy.

It worked, the first months.

After a while it suddenly became more and more difficult to sleep. It was after a fight with some weird wizzrobes that everything went down.

Four was hit by one of their spells, gladly it didn’t show any effects during the fight. They won and made camp as usual.

He took first shift, after all he didn’t feel like he could sleep easily tonight.

He called for Legend to take the second shift and went to his bedroll to try and fall asleep. He really tried, and failed.

When he realized it was already morning, the sun coming up in the horizon and light falling on the small clearing they were resting in.

Time was on last shift, and to not worry him he pretended to wake up from a really deep sleep. A whole night restless, it wasn’t new.

The next time he decided to not take any shifts, maybe that made his brain more alert than usual.

‘As usual’ do you mean us or your own mind? Both.

It wasn’t surprise that it didn’t work, another night without getting any sleep. He could keep the act up, it wasn’t hard to pretend being completely alert and no tired at all.

Yeah, the first three days.

When at first it didn’t matter a lot to him, now he was starting to feel the side effects of no resting. His body was feeling more and more heavy, his thoughts were less well-structured and an hour felt like a whole day.

He made a good job hiding it though, nobody has asked him about his tired face or the bags under his eyes yet.

“Hey Four, have a moment?”

Great.

“Yeah vet?” If he was lucky it was just to give some maintenance to his sword and shield, then he could go and try to take a nap without everyone looking.

It looks like that wasn’t the answer Legend wanted to hear, looking him up and down. “Just wanted to ask, how are you doing in your training?” This felt like a trick question, a very hard one.

“Ah, good, Sky is teaching me some movements and to react quick, very good teacher.” The last time he trained with the skyloftian he fell on his face, but Legend didn’t need to know that.

“Uh-huh” Maybe he squinted, maybe he blinked very slowly, he doesn’t know. “What about a friendly match of sparring then? Let’s see how much have you improved.” There was the characteristic smile from their vet, playful and challenging.

It was lacking something, huh. Weird.

“Sure, why not?” I’ll give five reasons why not, first of all– A friendly match could wake him up enough for the rest of the day.

They asked Wild for a borrowed sword for Legend and went to their places. They made camp in a big clearing, giving them enough space to not interfere with anyone doing their own thing.  

They both charged to each other, Four’s legs feeling heavier than they should be with each step he gave. With a clank their swords clashed, coming with fast swings trying to hit their opponent.

Slowly the smith’s movements started to get slower and clumsier, now with him just hitting anywhere he could and the vet blocking it without problem.

This game kept going a while, until Legend throwed his sword away and got a clean hit on Four’s neck.

He fell to the floor, his body collapsing and the impact being mitigated by the soft grass.

“That-That wasn’t fair!” How dare him call for a friendly match and suddenly use his bare hands?! But you had done it a lot of times before– The injustice!

Again, he felt like this answer didn’t make the vet content. Or better, him talking didn’t made him happy.

“You should be knocked out by now. How are you even awake.” The look in his eyes was of pure confusion, or Four thinks, its hard to tell when his vision was blurry.

“What do you mean he’s still awake?!” That was Wild, sweet chaotic Wild. What were they talking about. “It was a clean hit! We’ve tried everything!”

“Can someone explain?” The smith asked, slowly moving to get up, but his body didn’t have the strength to do so. Well, the grass wasn’t that uncomfortable at the end.

The two heroes looked at each other in a silent conversation, nobody can have any context in this group apparently.

Wild was the first one to talk “Legend noticed how you sometimes took longer shifts and haven’t been sleeping, so we’ve been trying to get you to have some more rest.”

“It didn’t work anymore, though” There was a hint of frustration in his voice, how long have been they doing this? “Since that battle with the wizzrobes nothing seemed to make effect anymore.” 

“We tried tea, making you work a little more with weapons so you get more tired to sleep, and knocking you out.” Wild scratched the back of his head, now thinking about why that last one wasn’t a very good idea. “Now I don’t even know what else to do.”

Huh, that was sweet from them. “Thanks guys, but I’m good, don’t worry.”

“We worry.” Legend dead-paned. “I’ve seen you, fully awake when the sun is still coming out. That was away from okay.”

“Is not that bad– “

“Four. It’s been a week like that. A whole week.”

“You’re gonna get killed for that” The champion was searching for something on his slate “Sleep deprivation isn’t a game, and you shouldn’t threat it like that.”

He couldn’t argue at that, but it was easier said than done. He also tried ways to sleep during this whole time; counting minish, reading a really boring book, making himself a cocoon with his blankets. Nothing worked!

Wild tapped his arm to gain his attention, had he zoned out? “When I don’t get to sleep, I hold this as a nightlight.”

He was passed a small crystal, it looked interesting, its light was soft and with a soft hint of yellow.

“It’s a Star Fragment, they fall from the sky in my Hyrule and are a little rare. You can have this one, maybe it helps you with getting some sleep…”

When touching the crystal, its light seemed to be brighter, making some weight fall from him that he wasn’t aware he had.

The last thing he saw before falling unconscious was his brothers calling for him, and some weird dark smoke.

[shadowdaddies]

Hii

Idk if your request is open but if it is then can i request for nessian with a reader thats illyrian? And that she constantly has something sassy or retorts back if someone teases her the slightest bit?

Hope you have a good day!!💗💗 love your works btw

Hi! Thank you so much, this was fun and different for me to write. Hope you have a good day, honey!💜

Banter

poly!Nessian x Reader

After an especially hard day of training, you were giddy for family dinner. Bursting through the front door of the River House, you spotted your nephew, Nyx, and ran towards him with open arms. He yelled out, “Auntie Y/N!” giggling as you scooped him up, twirling him around in a big hug. 

With a teasing smirk, you look to Nyx, the little boy already knowing what to do. “Race you to the dining room?” you asked. With a fierce nod, the toddler turned - in position to run. “3...2...1...GO!” you yelled, setting off down the hall, lagging slightly to let Nyx barely pull out the win. “Good job, buddy! That was close, though. I think I could beat you next time,” you said with a wink as the two of you took your seats.

Cassian set down the bottle of wine, taking his own glass in hand as he cocked an eyebrow at you. “I don’t know love, I was watching the start of that race and you seemed a little quick off the mark there.” Whipping your head towards your mate, you fired back, “well you would know about that, wouldn’t you?”

Azriel nearly spit out his drink, Nesta sheepishly sinking into her seat next to you as Cassian gave her a pointed glare. “What? Of course she told me,” you said, reaching over to hold Nesta’s hand. Feyre gave you a warning glare as she loaded Nyx’s plate with food. You shrugged, waving her off. “Oh, he doesn’t know what we’re talking about.”

Rhys leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. “Do you know what we’re talking about? We’ve been discussing important court matters, but it seems you’ve been too busy verbally sparring with your mates to take notice.” Toasting your glass in Rhys’s direction, you smirked at him. “Perfect then, you know your secrets are safe with me since I don’t listen to what you say anyway.”

Mor and Cassian laughed with you as Amren rolled her eyes. Rhys continued, “well, it pertains to you as we’re going to be visiting Ironcrest.” With a sigh, you leaned back in your chair, the remnants of wings on your shoulders anxiously twitching at the mention of your former home. It was time to be serious. “What do you need from me, Rhys?” 

Cassian interrupted, sensing your nerves and eager to protect his mate. He played it off jokingly, flexing his muscles dramatically on display for you as he countered Rhys. “I’m sure I can take care of whoever is causing problems over at Ironcrest.” You bit back your smile, scoffing before lobbing back at your mate, “feed your own ego, I’m busy here,” and nodded to Rhys to continue - meanwhile sending love and thanks down the bond to Cassian, squeezing Nesta’s hand under the table for comfort.

Rhys explained the plan, everyone at the table groaning when he announced you would all be leaving for the camps before dawn tomorrow. “Well, I’m off to bed then,” Cassian announced as he stood up from the table. You swirled the wine in your glass. “Be sure to check underneath for Bryaxis,” you said with a wink. Cassian’s face turned red as you and Nesta giggled. She leaned in, whispering in your ear, “come on love, let’s go with him.” You nodded, pressing a kiss to her cheek as you joined Cassian, the three of you heading to bed.

“Are you nervous for tomorrow?” Cassian asked when you reached your room. You shook your head, climbing into bed in between your mates. “No, I’m really not.” And you meant it. Despite how much you loved to tease them, you knew Cassian and Nesta would be there for you, to love and protect you despite whatever tomorrow may bring.

[enigmatist17]

TF One but it ends better

Saw this movie 4 times in theaters and am still just feral about it

Spoilers below

Drabble 1

---

movie happens the same up to the point the high guard kidnap them/get them to safety

Starscream, Shockwave and Soundwave are like ???? why are kids up on the surface ???? why is Arachnia after them ????

D-16 is angy boy of course, and wants to stomp off and go after Sentinel, but is stopped by Orion/the other seekers to listen to how they've been fighting a guerilla war for the last 50 cycles (why btw is about 4700 years give or take), and how they want to take the fight to him

They listen to D-16 and the other 3 how/why they got up tot he surface in the first place, and the guard are pissed to learn about the conditions/how Sentinel has brought the entire city to heel with misinformation and lies

some of the high guard weren't even there originally, they were other seekers/regular bots exiled/thrown out for trying to stop Sentinel and were taken in

Arachnia takes like, 2/3 days longer to find them, giving Starscream and the others time to train the small group on how to better use their alts. His voicebox gets damaged when sparring with D-16 gets a bit too much, but he doesn't hold it against the young mech who looks guilty, knowing the strength will keep him alive when they finally take on Sentinel

B-127 becomes a favorite of Soundwave, Shockwave is not jealous because the other 3 didn't seem to like him too much.

D-16 awkwardly talks with him after some training, shoving him at Orion and is pleased to find the two delving into Cybertronian history before long

The guard are kind of weird and skittish of the new company after a really long time, but oh they love kids and shower them with pride as their personal weapon systems come online. B-127 spends hours showing the entire camp his knife hands and everyone is "we are proud of you!! :D"

Orion and a few seekers sneak in to rally the miners/help those who had been overworked a day before the major battle, and no one shows up to their shift the next day

Sentinel doesn't stand a chance when the entire high guard and the miners attack at once, overwhelming his forces (which btw were they all drones or what? I highly doubt anyone aside from Arachnia would be loyal enough to kneel to the Quintessons and fight their own kind???)

There's a lot of fighting, and during it Orion sacrifices himself to save D-16, falling to his death as his friends scream out for him. Insert change into Optimus as they continue to fight Sentinel, and it ends with Optimus shooting out of the ground and taking out Sentinel, keeping him alive but yanking out his cog and giving it to D-16, who turned into Megatron out of honor to Megatronus

he sees a lot of seekers who are trying not to be emotional about it, and figures to ask about it later

Sentinel gets to watch Optimus bring back the energon/restore the cogs to all the miners, and begs for mercy when some of the guard finally advance on him, clearly ready to tear apart the bot who got their leaders killed, and Megatron stops them

"We must be better than him"

Optimus has the Matrix, but once the initial rush dies down, asks Starscream, Shockwave and Soundwave to help him unite Cybertron/help him lead because holy shit he's a kid and has no idea what he's doing, and D-16 says they'll all work towards a better beginning as equals

The 3 of them: sure????

Fin

I want to carefully place my High Guard boys into a terrarium and give them all the treats, they're so good :)

[imagineanime2022]

S/O With Powers Like Raven

Tokoyami Fumikage X Reader, Shoto Todoroki X Reader, Hitoshi Shinso X Reader, Keigo Takami X Reader, Dabi X Reader,

Requested: @supernatural-hunter1

Request: I had this cute little ideas stuck in my head and I thought it was a really cute What if Tokoyami, Shoto, Shinsou, Hawks Dabi and Shigaraki had an S/O who’s quirk similar to Raven’s powers from original teen titans and I know, for a fact that TokoYami would fall harder in love than the others😂 I also did a story about it to if you want to go check it out sometime but I just thought it was cute. BTW, you did an amazing job with that Danny Phantom story😁 AND What if the class 1A students have an S/O who quirk is the same powers as Raven from “Teen Titans” (the original version)

Warnings: Bullying, Bad parenting, injury, any others let me know

Fumikage Tokoyami

🌙 You both sensed the other's energy from the moment that you walked into the classroom, well you kind of just appeared and he registered the change in the room. 🌙 You seemed to automatically stay away from people, you avoided talking to people or getting too close to them. 🌙 It wasn’t his excitement that felt from across the room, but Dark Shadow’s the demon took a liking to you the moment that she saw you so you had to address that because it was slightly distracting. 🌙 You were both fast friends but he fell for you the first time that he saw you interact with Dark Shadow when the villain attacked the training camp.

The moment that the villains made themselves known, you worried about the class mates that had already been sent out into the forest but honestly you were more worried about Tokoyami after having spoken about your powers, you knew that the darkness was going to make controlling Dark Shadow difficult. You took about 2 seconds to locate him and then teleport to where he was, you found him hands pressed to his head as he tried to contain Dark Shadow. “Tokoyami!” You called as you fell to your knees in front of him. “What are…you doing…here?” He asked as he managed to look up at you. “I came looking for you, I knew that Dark Shadow would be hard to control.” You explained. “You have to go, she’ll hurt you.” He reached forward trying to push you towards the trees. “She wouldn’t hurt me, I can help, trust me.” You pleaded, he doubled over again seemingly trying to contain the power that Dark Shadow harboured. You didn’t get a verbal answer from Tokoyami but you continued anyway. The moment that your power activated Dark Shadow seemed to focus on you. “Hey Shadow, I know that you feel a lot of power right now but you're hurting Tokoyami, you don’t want to do that do you?” “I don’t mean to.” Dark Shadow answered and you nodded as you lifted your hands drawing her closer to you, when her head finally rested in yours you started to slowly calm the rampaging emotions for both of them. “I’m sorry.” “Don’t worry, we’re okay now… All we need to do is find our way back now okay?” You asked. “Thank you.” Tokoyami said softly and you looked at him and smiled. “Of course.” You nodded, taking his hand and pulling him over with you.

🌙 From here on you both became very close, you were never seen far apart and you worked together well, with your ability to control and enhance the shadows and by extension Dark Shadow you became a formidable team. 🌙 It didn’t take long for you both to realise that the feelings you had extended past friendship. 🌙 Tokoyami fell hard for you, he made sure that you were safe and happy no matter the condition that he might be in. Kissing was out of the question given his beak, you pressed kisses to his cheeks and hands but he often showed affection by nuzzling you or running his hands through your hair instead. 🌙 You spent a lot of time together and it was usually in yours or his room at the dorm.

It had been a long day for both of you, you weren’t sure that you wanted to sit in the common room with the rest of your friends so you made your way to Tokoyami’s room which was closer than yours, you fell face first on his bed, he didn’t seem to be there yet so you closed your eyes for a moment hoping to get some rest before he got back.

When you opened your eyes again Dark Shadow was fliting around the room as Tokoyami sat at his desk. He seemed to be doing homework that you didn’t care to entertain at the moment. “You didn’t wake me.” You mumbled. “You seemed tired today, it’s better that you rested, you can go back to sleep, I’ll wake you when it’s time to eat.” He said as he turned to look at you, you shook your head sitting up and rubbing at your eyes. Tokoyami walked over to you sitting on the bed, you moved over and rested your head on his thigh. “What were you doing?” You asked. “Maths homework.” He answered as his hands started to run through your hair, Dark Shadow settled in a smaller form on your chest as you gently ran your hand over the entity. “Mm.” You hummed as your eyes started to close again, he knew that you were still tired and it wouldn’t take much to send you back to sleep, your rooms were very similar so you had already admitted that your felt safe enough to sleep there, but as he run his fingers through your hair he could see your face relaxing and he realised that he would do anything for you to always have this look on your face and you became a new reason for him to become a hero, to make a world where he could see you smile and relax this way all the time.

Shoto Todoroki

🔥 You and Shoto barely acknowledged each other at the start of the school year, you both had your goals and would stop at nothing to achieve them. 🔥 You guys got closer after the sports festival, after finding out that you both had Daddy issues that you needed to solve, you didn’t really need to talk when in each other's presence. 🔥 Shoto was super curious about your quirk, he’d never really seen anything like it, you were in some way able to mute most quirks that you came into contact with and despite the fact that it came from your father you weren’t afraid of using it. 🔥 The first time that he saw your father was during the Stain incident, while Iida, Midoriya and himself were dealing with Stain. You were dealing with your father.

“You really think that you can be a hero!?” Your father asked as you dodged yet another attack of pure energy. “You don’t know what I can do.” You glared at him but he was quick this time and the next attack that he sent out hit you, you fell over the side of the building that you had been fighting on, you couldn’t catch yourself before hitting the ground, you laid there dazed for a second before you rolled to the side avoiding yet another attack from your father. “(H/N)!” Your head turned to where Shoto was standing with Midoriya and Iida. “What are you doing here!?” You asked as you kept your eyes on your father. “Those are kids from your class?” He asked “well then shall I get rid of the distraction.” He lifted his hands towards them, you didn’t think twice about creating a shield in front of them but it left you vulnerable to another attack, which it seemed your dad had counted on, you saw the blast of energy and almost felt it before the ice came up around you protecting you, it was then that you all heard the pros that had been looking for the others heading down into the alley way, you stepped into the shadows and portaled out near Shoto and the others. “Are you guys okay?” You asked. “We’re fine, what about you?” Shoto asked. “I’m fine thanks to you.” You smiled. “Who was that?” Shoto asked. “That’s my Dad.” You answered as you looked at where he had been. “That’s your Dad?” Shoto asked. “Yeah I told you we both had family issues.” You nodded and he looked down the alley at Endeavour running towards them all and he thought for a second that at least his Dad cared about his safety.

🔥 You and Shoto were very much traumatised children so he recognised boundaries that you never really talked about but they were there. 🔥 You were part of the reason that he decided to try and repair his relationship with his Dad. 🔥 Stood with you no matter what you said or decided, you guys were a power couple without the couple part, you were both a little oblivious to the fact for a little while. 🔥 That is until you met his siblings, who loved you by the way.

“So Mum was asking when you're going to bring your partner to see her.” Natsuo teased, they had never seen Shoto shocked or caught off guard but the moment that he started choking Fiyumi leaned forward to pat his back Fuyumi leaned forward to pat his back and help to stop the coughing. “Natsuo you could have phrased that differently.” Fuyumi muttered as she handed him some water. “Mum just said that she was curious about the friend that you write about all the time is all.” “She did?” Shoto asked. “Have you told (Y/N) about Mum?” Natsuo asked. “Mmm, we talked about it.” He answered. “We’ve talked about our family a lot.” “You have?” Fuyumi asked. “Yeah, they said that they wished she had a brother and sister like you guys, they’ve been alone since their mum died so…” Shoto trailed off as his phone vibrated. His siblings watched as he picked up the phone and smiled, answering the text message immediately. “You should really think about that partner thing, you seem happier when you're with them almost like our Dad didn’t take everything from you.” Natsuo said as he stood from the table and carried his bowl to the sink where he washed it and then left to get on with the rest of his day. “Wait!” Shoto called out “how would I know that I like them?” “Well I mean I’ve seen you with them, you care about them right? You want to protect them from anything that might hurt them.” Natsuo shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. “You also want to give them anything that they might want right? That’s why you introduced them to us, to a family.” Fuyumi added, Shoto bit down on his lip as he looked down at his Soba, they were right but did that mean that he liked you and if it did? What about you? Did you like him? “Shoto this is something that you have to talk to them about, knowing how they feel is important too.”

That was how Shoto found himself sitting in the small apartment that you called yours “something is bothering you, it has been since you got here.” You said as you looked at him “what's going on?” “I was talking to Natsuo and Fuyumi this morning and they said something.” He started explaining, you nodded to signal that you were listening without interrupting him. “Well we were talking about you, they said that my Mum wants to meet you since I write about you a lot when I send her letters.” “If that’s what you are worried about then I’d be happy to see your Mum.” You said. “No that’s not it… Well not all of it.” He said “there was something else, Natsuo called you my partner.” “Is that bad?” You asked. “I had to ask him what he meant but when he explained it to me, I realised that everything that he said was true for me… But then Fuyumi said that this isn’t something I can decide on my own, what you think is important, so I guess I wanted to know what you thought.” Shoto explained he gripped his trouser legs tightly as he waited for you to speak. “You know I told myself for the longest time that you couldn’t want me and that if my feelings for you were that strong that I should let you find someone better for you.” You explained. “What!?” He asked. “I don’t want someone else!” “I know that now… but that was hard to tell before.” You shrugged. “So the way I feel is the same as you and I wouldn’t have a problem with being your partner if you think that I’m good enough.” “You're more than enough.” He nodded. “As are you.” You said softly, pressing a shy kiss to his cheek.

Hitoshi Shinso

🧠 Hitoshi didn’t actually take much note of you for the first couple of days, actually the first time that he ever really took note of you was when people started badgering you about your quirk. 🧠 He noticed that you didn’t seem to want to talk about it, at first he thought that you were quirkless but realised that for you to be in the same class as him you had to have some kind of quirk so he then decided that you had to be ashamed of it for some reason. 🧠 He never asked you about your quirk, you were paired together for school projects and quickly learned that you liked the same things and understood each other's boundaries well enough without having to spell them out. 🧠 The first time that Shinso saw your quirk it was out of control, he had walked into the room after realising that you were late for lunch.

Shinso walked into the classroom that he was sure you last lesson before lunch was, his eyes found you first with your hands over your head as you cried, his eyes moved around the room where it seemed that shadows reached out to grab three girls who must have been in the room with you “(Y/N).” Shinso called out to you and sighed when you looked up at him but your eyes widened. “You have to leave, I can’t stop them… You’ll get hurt.” You muttered “they’re right I shouldn’t be here, I should be locked up somewhere.” Shinso felt the flare in your quirk as the shadows darkened and tightened around the girls. “They said that?” He asked, stepping forward. “No! Don’t do that!?” You pleaded, the shadows receded from the girls and they all fell to the ground. “Go.” He ordered as you curled in on yourself, you hands pressing to your head, you were mumbling to yourself, he hated seeing you like this. If he had been here instead of training with Aizawa this wouldn’t have happened.

Aizawa! He could help but he didn’t know how he was going to get a message to him, he was in the process of figuring it out when someone called his name “Shinso, you know them?” He looked over at the entrance to the classroom and saw that Aizawa was standing there with Present Mic and Midnight. It seemed that someone must have told them about what was happening over here and they rushed over. “They’re my friend, their names (Y/N), those girls were teasing them. I think it caused her to lose control of their quirk.” Shinso explained. “Not completely.” Midnight muttered as she directed Aizawa’s eyes to Shinso’s feet where the shadows circled him but didn’t dare touch him. “Mmm.” Aizawa hummed as his attention turned to you and nullified your quirk, Shinso moved quickly crouching in front of you. “Are you okay?” He asked, he didn’t get an answer but he could feel you shaking and your breathing was out of control. “(Y/N), look at me.” When you looked up he repeated his question. “I don-'' You stopped a blank expression across your face as you looked at him. “Calm down.” He ordered, he watched as your breathing went back to normal and only then did he let control go, he waited for you to be angry at him or push him away but instead you launched forward wrapping your arms around him. “Thank you.” You breathed and he stayed stock still for a moment before his arms wrapped around you and pulled you closer. “Anything for you.” He answered.

🧠 From there on Aizawa insisted that you train with him and Shinso if only to learn control of quirk so you don’t have to be afraid of it. 🧠 You watch Shinso grow and become stronger and you wonder if he was always going to think of you as a friend or just a burden. 🧠 You started pulling away after that, it was getting to the time where Shinso would show his quirk to the rest of the hero course and then he’d be leaving you, you know that he’ll get on the hero course no problem, he’ll make new friends and leave you alone. 🧠 Shinso noticed the moment that you stopped coming to the training with him and Aizawa, you didn’t answer any messages and seemed to be actively avoiding him, that is until you couldn’t anymore.

Shinso showed up at the classroom earlier than you had expected, he waited for all of the other students to filter out, he realised after a while that you had been eating your lunch in your classroom so you didn’t have to see him so when he was sure that you were on your own he walked into the room closing the door behind him. You looked like you were ready to run but your body was frozen. It was then that he realised that you weren’t avoiding him because you wanted to. “Where have you been?” He asked. “I’ve been here.” You answered “always here.” “You stopped coming to training.” He stated, as he pulled the chair out from in front of you and sat down. “I didn’t want to hold you back.” You mumbled but your eyes moved from him and he knew that he was getting to the bottom of the issue. “Hold me back?” He asked “you aren’t doing that and we both know that.” “Mm.” You hummed as if you weren’t actually listening to him. “There’s something that you're not telling me.” He accused and you looked at him now, he saw a number of different emotions flash across your face before you finally spoke “I’m just getting used to not having you around.” You finally said and he leaned forward taking your chin in his hand and directing your gaze to him. “What do you mean?” He asked. “You’ll be moving to the hero course and I’ll have to get on without you.” You explained. “We don’t know that I’m going to be on the hero course.” He argued, it was your turn to give him a look of disbelief “look it doesn’t matter because me being on the hero course won’t change anything.” “It changes everything!” You argued. “You won’t be here, you’ll make new friends, better friends and then you won’t need me anymore.” “Your overthinking everything again-” “Overthinking!? Shinso you're an amazing person there’s no way that you're not going to make friends, hell you made friends after the sports festival right!?” Shinso knew that he needed to do something to get you to calm down and listen to him so with his grip still on your chin he leaned in quickly connecting your lips and effectively stopping you from talking, it took a little while for you to kiss him back but just as you were relaxing into the kiss he pulled back. “I told you overthinking, we might not be in the same classes anymore but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to forget about you, that’s the hardest thing for me to do.” He explained. “You’ll be my first and highest priority no matter what.”

Keigo Takami

🪶 Keigo had heard of you before, people talked about your work as a hero all the time but he had never seen you around, he wondered how you could do all this work without ever running into him. 🪶 Turned out that you worked on opposite shifts, he kept everyone safe during the day and you kept everyone safe overnight, that answered a lot of his questions. 🪶 He liked your look, your hero name, even saw some of the footage from your arrests and your quirk was interesting too. Some would say that he was kind of a fan, 🪶 Keigo actually cast you out of his mind assuming that you were never going to work together, he couldn’t have been more wrong though.

Keigo didn’t know who he was supposed to be working with but it had to be someone worth his time considering The Commission never really asked him to complete missions with the other pro heroes. It was late into the evening when he found himself balancing on the ledge of the building waiting for the hero that was supposed to meet with him. He didn’t hear them until they were standing right next to him “Oh it’s you.” He said as he looked at you “you're the one that I’m working with. Can’t say I’m disappointed.” “I didn’t know you knew who I was, mighty No.2.” You said as you gave a sarcastic bow. “No need for that.” He waved you off “they said that you’d tell me what’s going on.” “Mm.” You hummed. “There’s a group of smugglers, they smuggle everything from weapons to people. I've foiled a good number of their plans and taken down their branches but I can’t seem to take down the core of their operation.” “They’re slippery then?” He asked. “No, the core branches operate during the day, my quirk is pretty useless when there's no shadows around.” You explained as the shadows circled around your wrists “I can’t move as quickly or as stealthily so my agency asked the commission for a team up since you're the only hero fast enough to keep up with me at the moment, you know without drawing attention.” “Endeavour is a little flashing in the dark.” Hawks laughed and you rolled your eyes. “Not to mention difficult to work with, his quirk basically nullifies mine with how bright he is.” You shrugged. “First things first we need to get here, I’ll meet you there.” You informed him and he nodded. “Do you need a lift?” He asked. “No, I'm good.” You answered as you stepped over the ledge disappearing into the shadows below you both, he smirked as he glanced at the location one more time before flying high above the clouds he was going to enjoy working with you.

🪶 You guys became close friends after working together on that mission, the success only made you both more popular and you were probably the only person that Keigo could call a real friend. 🪶 You often woke up to him in your house, you started leaving the window open for him, he then started showing up when you were out on patrol and you would come home and find him on the sofa, you don’t know when it started but you always pressed a kiss to the top of his head before shuffling off to sleep for the day. 🪶 He’d often play with your shadows when you gave them the free will to do as they pleased, he was the first person that had not been afraid of the power that you had. 🪶 Neither of you noticed that you had grown closer than friends until you were forced too, you had unfortunately been caught in a fight with Dabi who had targeted you after watching the two of you together.

You groaned as you opened your eyes, your body felt heavier than it ever had before, you looked around, the room was bright, too bright. A hospital room, you couldn’t remember what happened, you know that you were in so much pain that you passed out, you tried to remember more but in the end your eyes slid closed and you gave into unconsciousness.

Keigo sat perched on the roof of a building watching people milling around, he heard someone behind him and he immediately turned one of his feathers poised for attack.

Dabi.

“What are you doing here?” Keigo asked. “I don’t suppose you checked on your little shadow ruler before you came out today?” Dabi asked. “What are you talking about?” Keigo asked. “I ran into them last night, they weren’t moving when we were done… I don’t know if anyone else found them, they might still be lying in that alleyway.” Dabi shrugged. “What did you do?” He asked. “Do you really have time for that, shouldn’t you be looking for them?” Dabi asked, Keigo knew that he should fight Dabi but he couldn’t ignore the fact that you might be hurt somewhere, he at least knew that the League hadn’t taken you based on the way that Dabi spoke about you. Keigo opened his phone ready to call your agency when a notification for a news story popped up.

Breaking News: (H/N) brought to hospital after gruesome fight with Villain Dabi

The hospital you were in was not in the article for obvious reasons but that information was only a phone call away and he had no intention of letting anyone get in the way of finding you and making sure that you were safe.

When you opened your eyes again you recognised the bright red wings “Hawks?” You asked. “Even when you're hurt you're so careful.” He said softly as you reached out for your hands. “Why didn’t you call me when this happened?” He asked. “I’ve hardly been awake, I remember waking for a second but it wasn’t long.” You answered. “Do you know what happened to me?” “You don’t remember?” He asked. “No really.” You answered, “I remember passing out and a whole lot of blue.” “Dabi.” Keigo said. “That makes sense… But if it was only him then.” You reached around unwrapping the bandages as Keigo watched you curiously, when you finally unwrapped your arms, your skin looked completely healed. “You can heal?” He asked. “In certain circumstances I can.” You answered as you flung your legs over the side of the bed however as you turned you realised that Keigo had not moved and instead he seemed to move closer his wings shielding you both from any prying eyes. “Do you know how worried I was?” He asked. “Worried?” You asked. “Dabi found me just to tell me that you were lying somewhere hurt and alone, I didn’t know if I was going to find you.” He said “we were both lucky the Eraserhead was on patrol that night too.” You’d have to thank him later but as your mind wondered Keigo leaned in closer “I realised something.” “Really?” You asked. “Yeah, I realised how hard it would be to live without you, how much I want to be with you every second of every day and how much I really want to do this.” He leaned forward connecting your lips, the kiss was charged and almost messy, he forced himself to pull away “let’s get the doctors to give you the all clear, then we’re going home.” “Sounds good.” You hummed. “You’ll have to come back to my place this time, we don’t know if he knows where you live so for now what’s mine is yours.” Keigo said as he walked out of the door to find a doctor.

Dabi

💀 You and Dabi operated in the same areas and ran into each other a lot, so he had seen you in action and was not surprised that people feared you. Took the time to find out what your name was, where you came from, and anything else worth knowing. 💀 He never really said more than 3 words to you at a time and you never pushed for a conversation, something he was fond of. 💀 You were a formidable force even when faced with someone who could have been far stronger than you were. 💀 He didn’t think of you as much of a team player though so he was surprised when you showed up at the bar to speak to Shigaraki.

“You made it.” Giran cheered. “I distinctly remember you saying this was a team, they all seem to be at each other's throats.” You noted. “Well they’ve just met.” Giran shrugged. “Bodes well.” You mumbled. “Who’s this?” Shigaraki asked as he turned his attention to you. “(V/N) what are you doing here?” Dabi asked. “Probably the same as you.” You answered. “You believe in Stain’s message?” He asked and you shook your head. “Of course not, I couldn’t care less about him, he showed his hand.” You answered waving off the suggestion only stopping a second to use your telekinesis to create a shield as Toga hurtled at you, flinging her to the side when her knife connected with the table you were using as a shield. “So tell Tomura Shigaraki why I should follow you.” “I don’t want to, nor do I have to sell myself to you.” Shigaraki growled out and you shrugged. “Fair enough, until next time Dabi.” You waved before you disappeared. “You just lost one of the strongest pieces on the board.” Dabi muttered as he turned to leave “call me when you know what the plan is.”

Dabi headed back to his apartment, he wasn't sure how long it was going to be before he heard from Shigaraki but he couldn’t care less the only thing that he could think about was you, the way you appeared, ran the show and left. “Didn’t take you for a team player.” He didn't know how you got into his apartment but he wasn’t going to show you that. “I’m not.” He answered as his head lazily rolled towards you “I didn’t think that you paid me much attention.” “Good.” You mumbled as he stood, he walked as if he was going to walk past you changing direction at the last minute and caging you against the wall. “What are you doing here (Y/N)?” He asked, he moved his face closer to yours, trying to draw you out but you just looked up at him and closer still. “Just wanted to know I’m going to have this place all to myself?” You asked. “What and leave you the mysterious little shadow ruler, now why would I do that? There’s still so much I don’t know.” He teased as leaned closer to your ear “so much I dont trust.” “Smart little arsonist.” You smirked before disappearing into the shadows and appearing at the window on the other side of the room. “Until next time, Dabi.”

💀 From there on Dabi paid more attention, you were there all the time, just outside of everyone’s view, everyone except him. 💀 Eventually conversations became easier and your home became his home, at first it was because your place was closer to the bar then his and slowly developed into him wanting to be there because you were there. 💀 You were probably the only person outside of the league of villains that had his number and that regularly contacts. 💀 He kept an eye on news when you both had to be apart for long periods of time to make sure that you were okay and nothing happened to you.

After the issue with the heroes when they kidnapped Bakugo, you hadn’t heard from Dabi, it worried you, so you started staying out longer and travelling farther to try and even catch glimpse of him, you had sent him messages that he wasn’t answering so you assumed that either his phone was broken or lost.

You sighed as you unlocked your door another night with no sign of him, it had actually been 24 hours since you had been home so you were pretty tired that might have been why you didn’t realise that there was someone in your living room “where have you been?” You jumped at the sound of his voice before turning to the sofa where he was sitting with his arms stretched over the back, your eyes widened, he looked like he was okay, you didn’t even think about answering his question instead you moved across the room and wrapped your arms around his neck straddling his waist without even thinking about it. “You're okay…” You breathed, you could feel that he had tensed beneath you, until his arms started moving and they wrapped around your waist. “I’m fine.” He answered, his hand rested on the back of your neck, gently guiding your face back after a while so that he could look at you. “Are you?” “Me? I’m fine.” You answered softly, he gently ran his thumb over the apple of your cheek. “Why didn’t you answer my texts?” “Lost my phone in the attack.” He answered his voice was low as if he was scared of ruining the moment. “I was worried about you.” You said. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” He smirked and you narrowed your eyes. “We’re not together.” You reminded him and he leaned forward his lips a breath away from yours. “We could be.” He suggested before connecting your lips in a rough kiss, his teeth grazed against your bottom lip, guiding your mouth open for him to take control of the kiss, the hand on your cheek slid to the back of your neck to hold you where he wanted to keep you for a long as possible.

Request Here!!

[puckpocketed]

i wasn’t even joking about the thomas speer princess treatment btw. btw. i know the sharks have a Reputation for goalie breaking but to give you all some counter propaganda… he did good work with kahkonen and blackwood and i expect given the chance he’ll do the same for georgiev

Published October 17 2023, How a coach’s visit in Toronto helped Mackenzie Blackwood get comfortable with the San Jose Sharks - by Curtis Pashelka (link)

SAN JOSE – Mackenzie Blackwood was about a week away from leaving Toronto and heading to the Bay Area last month for the start of training camp when he got a visit from San Jose Sharks goalie coach Thomas Speer.

The two had previously only talked on the phone, and that was after Blackwood had been acquired by the Sharks last June and subsequently signed to a two-year contract extension. So Speer’s visit gave the two a chance to get to know each other a bit better and get on the same page prior to camp.

It was also a personal gesture that Blackwood appreciated.

“That shows a lot,” Blackwood said Monday. “To come and spend some time and go out of your way to come work with me. Yeah, I was appreciative.”

Speer, now in his second season with the Sharks, is tasked with helping the team solve its goaltending woes after years of being well below average. The Sharks haven’t had a team save percentage over .901 since the 2017-2018 season and last year, that number sunk to an NHL low of .881.

So far, the Sharks are off to a better start, with Blackwood stopping 51 of 52 shots in the Sharks’ 2-1 shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. After the game, Blackwood was quick to credit his teammates for keeping most shot attempts to the perimeter, but also Speer for the work they’ve done together over the last several weeks.

“He’s been good. Lots of help for me, working on keeping my game tight, not overplaying stuff, and keeping my feet underneath me a little bit more,” Blackwood said. “If you get stuck, re-adjust, and keep moving. Staying square. So just a lot of little stuff that we’ve kind of chipped away at, but it all adds up to something big.”

Not surprisingly, Blackwood will get the start again on Tuesday when the Sharks face Brent Burns and the Carolina Hurricanes at SAP Center. But with the way the Sharks’ schedule unfolds this month, with seven games over the next 13 days, both Blackwood and Kaapo Kahkonen figure to get a fair amount of work.

Speer worked with Kahkonen last season, helping to change his game and improve his confidence. Kahkonen had a .895 save percentage in his final 18 games last season compared to a .869 mark over the first 19 games.

Kahkonen played well in the preseason and aside from one goal late in the second period, Quinn felt the Finnish-born netminder had a positive outing in the Sharks’ 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights last Thursday.

“The one thing about (Speer), he cares so much about the guys he coaches,” Quinn said. “Great tactician, but he has the ability to connect with the people he’s coaching and that’s what makes him a great coach.

“He doesn’t coach everybody the same. He knows every guy’s a little bit different. … But the connection he creates with his goalies is pretty special.”

Quinn said that after Saturday’s game, no one was happier for Blackwood than Kahkonen.

“Big hug, big smile,” Quinn said. “To me, you can’t win (on the ice) until you win in (the locker room). We think we got two guys that could do that, which would make it difficult for the coach. But those are great problems to have.”

Certainly, that’s where the Sharks want to get to under Speer. who is in his 11th year as a goalie coach, working with both amateurs and professionals at a variety of levels. Before he came to the Sharks, Speer spent three seasons with the Stockton Heat, the former AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames.

“I’ve had coaches that I’ve gotten along with, but it’s nice to have a guy here that you get to spend every day with that knows the game, knows my game, and knows what I need to do. Very detailed,” Blackwood said. “And you get to know him, he’s a great guy. So far, everything has been great.”

[arak-the-other-kara]

Clover's Wonderful Christmas

(2 years ago on this day was Clover's 14th Christmas. He was still in his father's house in Texas. *BTW though Clover wasn't called Clover until later, it'll make it easier on me if I have everyone call him Clover. Merry Christmas.)

(Clover) "Good morning Dad!"

(Dad) "It's Christmas morning isn't it?"

(Clover) "Yes! I also want to say, what will my gift be this year?"

(Dad) "Well, what did you want? I'm sure I got it for you."

(Clover) "I wanted something great! A toy maybe. *Opened her gift* Oh my gosh a toy gun!!!"

(Dad) "Yep, I knew a child like you would want that. Now, let's get going."

(Clover) "What is it?"

(Dad) "We're going on a hunting trip together!"

(Clover) "Really? I guess. I'm not good at shooting."

(Dad) "You don't need to even aim well. I sure didn't when I was your age."

(Clover) "Why are we doing this on Christmas?"

(Dad) "*Laughed* Every Christmas we remember how our lord has sacrificed himself to save our souls. So, when we come of age, we sacrifice our innocence for him. It's not much, but it's the least we can do."

(Clover) "Alright."

*They go into the backyard. There are animals everywhere. Including one deer*

(Dad) "Ah, so this, is where you become a man. Now, it might be hard to hit but I'll give you one good shot without help. If you need it, I'll gladly put the deer's head right next to you."

(Clover) "How would these bullets even work? They are fake."

(Dad) "The gun is a toy just so I don't get in trouble if you do hit someone with it. The bullets are as real as the ones in my gun. Want to see? *Grabbed her gun and shot it at a random white bunny* Three points! Whoo!"

(Clover) "You know, maybe I'd like to keep my innocence. You haven't given me any training! What if it hits something else by mistake."

(Dad) "Believe me, if you believe in God you can do anything. You will shoot it just fine."

(Clover) "*She shot it in the wrong direction on purpose. She made it look like an accident though* Whoops. I'm sorry, you see I'm not good at this."

(Dad) "Oh, I get it. *Went up to the deer and grabbed it. It tried to run but got caught too quick. He put it right next to the gun* Now, this is what my father did too! I sucked before I realized how good it felt. All it takes is just one shot and you'll never want to stop. It's like a miraculous drug."

(Clover) "Well... *Aimed at the deer. She saw into the deers eyes and watched as it licked the gun like a toy* You know, maybe I can wait a bit longer."

(Dad) "OH MY GOD!!! Just shoot the fucking deer already! God! Why can't you just try it? No one wouldn't want to unless, they were one of those gays I've heard about."

(Clover) "You know I'm not that imoral."

(Dad) "Listen we all know that the second original sin was when Adam kissed himself as the Devil's temptress. Then God himself caused a flood and it's only because of Noah that we're still alive today. Genesis 33:678. Now, you can relive that sin, or show you're a man!!!"

(Clover) "I can't!!!"

(Dad) "If you don't I will bring you to the camp."

(Clover) "No, I promise I'll be good but I'll go anywhere except there and do anything to be good! Please don't."

(Dad) "Well, you know just how undisciplined kids get. I'll give you the count of three. One. TWO."

(Clover) "*Shot the gun. The deer was dead and she smiled.* You're right! This was amazing! I should hunt more often. Maybe I could be like one of those cowboys on the TV!!!"

(Dad) "Well, that makes the next gift I will give you all the better. *Handed her a cowboy hat*"

(Clover) "Thank you! This has been the best Christmas ever! I love you."

(Dad) "You too, little fellah. You too."

*Merry Christmas! @woomeme-land, @infinitrix, @bobanchikn, and the rest of you*

[volleypearlfan]

Jet's bi coding throughout the series

Not a lot of people seem to know this, but Jet is bi. I don't blame people for not knowing, since it was only confirmed online, not outwardly shown in the show, and there were no big news articles about it. Here's the Instagram reply from four years ago confirming it (jetpropulsion93 is me btw. Jet being very theatrical, flamboyant, and affectionate with both Sydney and Sean helped me accept the fact that I'm bi)

Craig indirectly confirmed that Jet is bi by also confirming that technically, all Bortronians are agender, and so Jet likes "a little of both." This, too, was not really shown in the show except for "Jet Cooks Dinner," where Jet calls his parents "Parent 1 and Parent 2" and corrects himself with "Earth mom and dad," showing that Jet is trying to adapt to Earth's gendered terms.

As for Jet being bi, there are a few hints throughout the series.

Jet is best friends with both Sydney and Sean, but there are some moments where he acts like he has a crush on one or both of them. He has danced with both of them on separate occasions, casted Sydney to play his wife in the Christmas play, is touchy-feely with them (mostly Sean), and in season 2, came up with a nickname for Sean, Seanzo. Jet doesn't have nicknames for any of his other friends. Sean likes it when Jet calls him that, but not when Mindy does it in "Mindy's Bedtime." But this post isn't about Sean. Maybe one day I'll make a post about whether Sean is gay or not.

The episode "Potatoes on Mars" is a tribute to David Bowie, and the first song, also titled "Potatoes on Mars," sounds very similar to "Life on Mars." David Bowie has made conflicting statements on his sexuality, but the general consensus is that he was bisexual

There is also official art depicting Jet with Aladdin Sane's lightning bolt. Aladdin Sane was one of Bowie's many personas

Heck, Jet himself is similar to one of Bowie's other personas, Ziggy Stardust

Ziggy Stardust is described as a "bisexual rock star from another planet sent to Earth ahead of an impending apocalyptic disaster to deliver a message of hope." This sounds almost exactly like Jet:

This entire post proves Jet is bi

Jet seems to really like rock music, as plenty of his songs, including Potatoes on Mars, take inspiration from the genre

Obviously, Jet is an alien from the planet Bortron 7

The Earth is not going through the apocalypse in the series, but Jet acts as a hope-bringer to the Earthies with his optimistic outlook on life

The episode "My Fair Jet" could be interpreted as a metaphor for coming out. In it, Jet wants to go to the DSA Open House, but Sean and Sydney are worried that he'll expose his alien identity. So, Sean and Sydney "train" Jet to act more like an Earthie. At the Open House, Sean is carried away by a weather balloon, so Jet has no choice but to use his jetpack to save him, and then he sings that "Bortronian is what [he is]"

This episode could be read as a queer person wanting to express their identity, but is forced to keep it a secret and "act more straight." I don't want to say "conversion therapy" because I think it's horrible to compare Sean and Sydney to people like that, but still. Forcing a queer person to act more straight doesn't make them stop being queer. Forcing Jet to act more like an Earthie didn't make him stop being Bortronian.

And finally, the bisexual lighting™️ There are a few scenes featuring Jet that make use of the bi flag colors. The first is in the song "There's No Planet Like My Planet" from the Back to Bortron 7 special, where he shares an intimate moment with Sean

The second is during the beginning of the Space Camp movie, where Jet is surfing on a comet trail in space

This is not an accident. It HAD to be on purpose, especially since this movie came out AFTER Jet was indirectly confirmed to be bi.

It's understandable that Jet being bi wasn't more explicit in the show. First, it's an educational series about space, not a romcom. Jet may have innocent puppy love crushes on Sean and Sydney, but they're too young to get into any serious relationships. Also, if it was more explicit, the show could be targeted by anti-LGBTQ Karens and Republican lawmakers. Alabama banned the Arthur episode with Mr. Ratburn's gay wedding, there was conservative Christian backlash over a brief lesbian wedding in an episode of Odd Squad, and a lawmaker in Oklahoma tried to defund the local PBS just for having lesbian parents on Work It Out Wombats

LGBTQ+ characters are increasingly more common in children's media nowadays. There are definitely still challenges, especially with accusations of "grooming" and "wokeness" but overall, there is much more positive LGBTQ+ representation these days than there was 10 years ago.

Still, Jet is a bicon

[annimator]

AIGHT SO CARNIVAL OF CHAOS IS ONLY NINE DAYS AWAY, I’M GETTING IMPATIENT, AND ALL THE AUDITIONS AND CHARACTER INTROS ARE NOT HELPING OMG IM SO EXCITED FR FR.

(Spoilers below or smth idk)

• Tristan & Hannah were already 2 of the characters I was most excited about when the Carnival of Chaos cast photo was released, BUT THEN AS IT TURNS OUT, HANNAH’S A BISEXUAL FILIPINO-CANADIAN, AND TRISTAN’S NON-BINARY. THIS TYPE OF REPRESENTATION MAKES ME SO HAPPYYYYYYYYYYYY

• I SHIP THOSE TWO SO MUCH BTW, THEY’RE MY OTP FOR THIS SEASON

• Isabel’s gonna be an interesting character considering her whole influencer nun thing. Last I checked, James has more followers than her lmao

• Natalia’s audition is the best audition, argue with the wall. We appreciate Riya slander in this household and her talking about how the show needs her with all the twinks they nearly killed made me laugh my ass off (I DON’T DISLIKE RIYA BTW, I’M JUST VERY CONFLICTED ABOUT HER BECAUSE SHE’S AN INTERESTING BITCH OF A CHARACTER BECAUSE OF HER ARC THROUGHOUT S2 & ALL STARS)

• I saw a post on twt predicting that Benji’s gonna become a twist villain because of his perfectionist nature & the fact that he needs college funds or smth, and I’m honestly on that train that would be so interesting for his character.

• ALSO HE’S SUCH A FUCKING DORK, I LOVE HIM

• Literally all the VAs sound like they enjoy voicing their characters and that makes me rlly happy :D

• I was immediately intrigued by Alessio’s character as an artist myself. His design’s fucking awesome too, and him saying that he doesn’t have the best time connecting to others was so relatable HE’S JUST LIKE ME FR

• AWWW JADE HAS TWO MOMS :D Love how she made peace with her vitiligo and to use the winning money to give back to sea life and pursue marine biology

• Zaid’s gonna be an interesting character considering the fact that he’s a chef. Also he wants to give the money to his mom, that’s so fucking wholesome bro wtf-

• I’m mainly rooting for everyone that I just listed, but I genuinely like (or love in Hannah, Tristan, & Isabel’s case) every single character from this cast, until the actual season proves otherwise

• I wasn’t really rooting for Ted or Logan until the auditions dropped, but they seem pretty intriguing! Also Ted’s probably gonna be the villain of the season because of the whole poker player thing he has goin on

• Spencer’s gonna crush on Diego so hard lmao. Him saying that there isn’t gonna be a twist in the game that’ll throw him off course sealed his fate

• SPEAKING OF WHICH, Diego being so excited about meeting new friends and saying that Disventure Camp is gonna be the next journey of his life was so wholesome

• I’m also a lesbian Anastasia truther lol. Her and Marissa would be a great couple >:D

• I love women with abs and Marissa is no different

• I mean what who said that

• Richard’s canonically gay, happily married to his husband, and has a daughter, good for him

• Lynda has the same VA as best girl Lucia, I’m sold

• IVY’S SO SILLY AND AWKWARD. I LOVE HER

• Amelie’s intriguing ig :p

• Trevek better be gay & happy during this season btw, it’s what they deserve. The staff plot for this season’s gonna be interesting considering that Emily’s an intern, and will probably be third-wheeling them lmao.

• Also saw some people on twt complaining about all the gay pairings, and I just wanna say THIS IS DISVENTURE CAMP BITCH. WE LOVE GAY SHIPS IN THIS MOTHERFUCKER. TAKE YOUR HETERO ASS BACK TO TOTAL DRAMA- (/j btw. I saw the reboot seasons, mkulia and rajbow are adorable together)

• So yeah, I’m totally normal about the upcoming season :)

[ren1327]

A Look Back at my Benji Fics 1: Kenji's Family

So the first fanfiction I wrote was called Sweet Survivor. This was right after season one and before we knew when season two was coming out.

I had written it as a gift to my sister, as we both fell in love with one Benjamin Fitzgerald Pincus.

However...all I had was my knowledge from the books and movies. I had no idea where the story would go. So like those Pteranodons...I winged it.

But seriously. It led to my own lore when it came to the campers. If I was going to write my own ending, I had to make some guesses and choices how I saw characters. And I would reuse these characters again and again.

So first: The Kons

(Btw, this was pre-Daniel Kon. And I will collapse as not to cause endless scrolling for passers by)

Kosei Kon

Kosei was what I hoped Daniel could’ve been.

I had created him between Season 1 and 2 of Camp Cretaceous when writing Sweet Survivor and kept him as “Kenji’s Dad” in every one of my fics since.

Kosei was someone who was selfish and needed a reality check. Someone who pushed his son to the side, but would do anything to keep him safe and sound. Who would be able to look at himself and do anything for Kenji’s safety.

Daniel Kon, he is not.

A lot of the background with Kosei was he was in construction and/or finance. I also put in a few fics he and Simon were best friends in their twenties and while Simon got more whimsical, Kosei got more serious. He was also from a traditional family who valued hard work, but not really family ties.

A very "I bust my ass, so you don't have to" mentality that backfires tremendously.

This would change during his second marriage and the Jurassic World incident.

I’ll go into Candy later, but she was the fuse that started the fire under his ass when it came to not only finding his son, but repairing their relationship. Most fics also had him a little awkward with his younger daughter, another OC,  since I had a theory Kenji was only raised by nannies and saw his dad once a day in person or on facetime. So he being around for nightly feedings and the terrible twos and first everythings were something he had yet to experience.

 Another funny quirk is he tries to learn about things he doesn’t understand, like phrases or other sexualities, hence why he’s a little overenthusiastic about Kenji being bisexual because “You’ve trained for this possibility, Kosei!”

A big part of making Kosei was making him terrible at poor communication and posturing instead of comforting his obviously emotionally neglected son. He would find it hard and way too new, but he was always written to, despite being a bit aloof and closed off, ready to finally step up when his son needed him for life advice or just to pass the time.

He’s also not afraid to put his career and reputation on the line when it comes to his children.

Candela "Candy" Kon

Candy was kinda a throw away line from Kenji and never mentioned again.

We didn’t know back then if she was his dad’s girlfriend, his stepmom or just an assistant for Mr. Kon. I went to the stepmom angle cause it almost felt like the scene from “Up” when Russel talked about his dad.

I really really reeeeeeally am tired of the evil stepmother trope.

So I created Candela Kon, Kosei’s wife.  (I will be referring to my OC Kosei Kon rather than Daniel Kon as Kenji’s father.)

I wanted her and Kenji to have an awkward relationship rather than a hostile one. It was more important to me that she was trying, and it just was…awkward. I 100% believe Kenji’s Dad, Daniel or Kosei, would marry without informing Kenji or Candy. And she would ream him out and immediately try to bond with Kenji, cause her husband may be a clueless dolt, but there’s a child now and his feelings are the most important thing right now.

Since Jurassic Park is located on Isla Nublar set in Costa Rica, I wanted her to be an orphan who grew up there and later immigrated to America before returning to work at Jurassic World.

Her being an orphan was never really touched on, but it would help her connect with Kenji, as she knows how it is to want parents and they're not there.

On top of that, she often had the stereotypical health crazes, though toned enough that it was more a pursuit of knowledge to see what was good or beneficial to her family. Hence why she would like Ben so much, as I wrote him not only as food conscious, but also with an interest in herbology for medical purposes. (More about that later.)

Before the series, she and Kosei would meet and start their romance because of a pregnancy that unfortunately didn’t make it to term. Candy would have built a relationship with Kosei, and both agree to stay married as they make each other happy and both love Kenji.

Carmen Kon

Carmen was the daughter of Kosei and Candy, and Kenji’s baby sister. In most stories, she is Candy's rainbow baby.

Most of the time she’s between the ages of yet to be born and 15. At any age, she’s a pretty chill little kid who loves games, her babysitter/nanny Dave and Kenji.

As a kid under 6, she’s obsessed with Kenji and later Ben. Usually getting very excited any time Kenji enters a room, she’s often corralled by Dave, who I love too much not to come back in every fic.

As a teen in Sweater Weather, she is very self-conscious, as she’s being bullied for not being like her brother by other schoolmates. She keeps to her games and loves the mall, but will have bad days where she shuts off her phone and walks around the properties. She bonds with Ben over being bullied and shares her interests in video games and gender studies.

So that's the Kons.

Thank you guys for dealing with my breaks. I am trying to write when I can. Have a good summer.

[dangermousie]

Let's meet my favorite kdrama cursed prince - Muhyul as portrayed by Song Il Gook in The Kingdom of the Winds

Or more specifically, this very long-ass post is my attempt to convince people to watch this ridiculously underrated 2008 sageuk.

Why? Is it politics? Complicated families, cursed destinies, battles, or more hurt/comfort than you can want? Nope, none of these. I have my priorities straight and it's official. Muhyul/Yeon is one of my favorite period OTPs.

Take one Cursed Prince (who does not know he is one, and is brought up as a slave), add in one capable Enemy Princess who saves his life, add in ninjas (yes I know ninjas are Japanese but I have no idea what the Korean equivalent term is and I am too lazy to type in secret assassins every time), poisonings, intrigues, and a lot of hurt/comfort and we are set!

Once upon a time, there lived a man named Muhyul. He was only a slave but what he did not know was that he was actually a Prince who was given away by his family at birth because he was cursed to kill his whole family, people he loved, and to top it off, to destroy his country. Despite it all, he was still super-hot.

In the enemy nation of Buyeo, there lived a Princess named Yeon, who was ladylike, kind, a skilled healer....also a deadly ninja.

Point 1: Heal captured slaves from torture. One day they might be the Crown Prince.

Muhyul first sees Yeon after he has been horrendously tortured by Buyeo troops. He opens his eyes to see a heavenly vision quite competently stitching him up, so to speak. It is love at first sight for Muhyul. And who could blame him. He knows that with the director's troubling penchant for h/c, he will need a hottie healer around.

Point 2: "Heal a hottie and he is yours for life"

Muhyul spends some free time drawing her portrait. Without knowing who she is or if he will see her again. If the whole slave/assassin/king thing doesn't work out, he can always make money as an artist.

Point 3: "It's not stalking when he's hot!"

Muhyul is on an undercover mission in the enemy country but he forgets everything when he sees Yeon walking by (btw, he assumes she is just a commoner doctor). I love how he sort of stops thinking of anything else at all.

And then he thinks of her at night...

And lo and behond, their paths cross again when she heals a slave in the house he is staying in.

And he introduces himself to her and she is totally mesmerized. Who can blame her, it's freaking Song Il Gook!

And "rescues" her from evil Byueo soldiers. Only, oooops, they were sent by her family as escort and she is piiiiiiiiissed!

"Why did she slap me, whyyyyyy?"

Still, be happy, boy! Despite it all, she bailed you out of jail for assaulting the Royal Guards :)

Awwww, Muhyul doesn't want to leave...

Point 4: You know what makes anything better? Torture and homicidal angst

Did I mention the part where Yeon's Dad runs an Evil Assassin camp where they experiment on slaves with poisons and torture them? You see where this is going? If you do, then you have the mindset of both the writer of this drama and myself.

Muhyul gets captured by them (after losing the only person he ever regarded as family, but that would drag us into plot and this post is about the shippy):

And tortured for a solid year. If he ever marries Yeon, that might make for an awkward family Thanksgiving. "So, how are you, son?" "Well, I almost regained the use of my arms!"

Anyway, Yeon is visiting Daddy and sees some slave being taken out, after they have tried poisons on him. It's Muhyul, so it's Yeon to the rescue! Man, no wonder he loves her - it's self-preservation on his part!

(this shot here is for troubling reasons)

And then Muhyul is drafted by evil assassins (long plotty reason) with the only alternative more torture. The training is psychotic and gets Muhyul near-broken utterly but as a side benefit, makes him even more hot. If now mildly psychotic. As you can probably figure out by the end of the drama he's so hot he's a supernova

Also, as I posted earlier, gorgeous armored men on their knees looking up at their OTP who is teaching them foreign language (because Yeon is an Evil Assassin trainer for daddy) and thinking of the fact that they are a slave and she is a Princess (which is something he found out only in the ninja camp) is pretty high on the list of my favorite things.

Plus, Yeon takes him out for fresh air and exercise that doesn't involve being hung upside down and being ordered to off oneself. Score! She even makes him smile.

This is hitting the cap limit for continuing in part 2 shortly...

ETA: part 2 here:

(99+) Musings of the Obsessive Kind on Tumblr

And part 3:

(99+) Musings of the Obsessive Kind on Tumblr

[mintnrainbow]

YOUUU❗️❗️❗️❗️have any INTERESTIN' AU,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i would like to know more about the goobers,,,,,,,,,,, purdy please😁😁😁😁 gib lore (if you can) (((ALSO REFS 4 THE GOOBERS WOULD BE AWESOME SAUCE TOO)))

Your getting a yap sandwich full of usless information 🗣🗣 it's a very long post geez sorry bro 😔

Anyway I gunna yap abt da main sillies (Aka Rock, Roll, Blues, Aki, Suna, Daini and 001 (she's a oc :3) )

Refersz image (these r the most recent desgins with all updates n everything 😭) (also uh when they get into da armour, they look just like canon, roll has no armour n I'll put a pic of 001s armour later on in the post)

Stuff abt charecters

Rock- silly, lowkey hates fighting, fights anyway coz uh two is better then one when fighting off the evil robot masterz, has a another soul inside his circuits called ' Mega' (we don't need to worry abt that, 100% not concerning), is friends with aki and bert. No free will, knows he has no free will.

Roll- silly #2, lowkey hatez cleaning buts it's kinda her function to clean and help around the uh well cave, wishes she could fight, lowkey kinda sunas friend. No free will, knows she has no free will.

Blues- Tall, the oldest out of the group, ran away from home and now really misses his dad, he has awful purple eyebags around his eyes due to lack of sleep, this lack of sleep also leads to the bit around his eyes cracking, daini thinks of him as a father figure. 6ft tall. Has free will, believes he has no free will.

Aki- Yeh you've watch da show! U know him!!! He like the same in my au, apart from the fact he carries the emotional baggage of knowing he had been fighting his own brother this entire time and he wishes he could help Daini. He sometimes doesn't get sleep due to visions of war. He has free will, he knows he has free will.

Suna- She's basically the same but she worries about her brothers and tries to help Aki whenever she can. She will fight if needed and goes by the name Zero.

Daini- Starting from the start (This is gonna be a long one), After the hard age, him and aki got upgraded into the armour we see in the flashback, he used to be called 'Kurai', but Sgt Night realised how powerful these robots could be and one night took one (he didn't take both over fear of being caught), then everyday namagem would have to train and Night treated him like a tool, not a son. He grew up to be angry and he had truely nothing, except from Night's promise that he would be known as a liberator of robot kind. All he had was that false hope and a desolate black room to rot in. During Mmfc season 1, 001 starts hanging out with him in secret. When he revealed he was Akis brother at the end of season 1, he and 001 ran away into the mountain. The mountain had a cave system so they could make camp their. He thinks of Blues as a father figure since he never truely had a good father. He thinks of 001 as his favourite person as she seemed the only thing that ever cared about him. He used to have long hair before being kidnapped, but Night chopped it off so it Is now the length of just below his shoulders. His core is cracking and he has many scars across his body. The bottom half of his right arms caseing has fallen off, revealing the mechanics beneath, but he wears a long red fingerless glove to hide most of the broken arm. Has free will, believed he doesn't have free will.

001- My oc who has too many siblings. 000, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 009. She also goes by the nickname '01. She wanted to become friends with Daini since it felt as if it was her duty to. She looked after him and treated him as if he was more then a gun. She also calls Daini, 'Day' and idk why I just made that up with no reasoning. Has free will, knows she has free will.

Now this image is 001 in armour

Green

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

At the end of the day btw, my au is about how robots are more then tools and have souls that can be easily corrupted. souls can and can't have free will.

OH YEH, ROCK, ROLL, BLUES, DAINI AND 001 ALL LIVE IN A CAVE 😭😭😭🗣🗣🗣 most important lore trust 😔

Yap over

[lookingforfairies]

btw hi i am back from a 4 day camping trip <3 missed my stop to change trains on the way home so now i'll be on the train for 2-3 more hours </3

[forlix]

HELLAUURRR!!!

You're literally the best writer on tumblr, so I'm here to ask for some advice 🥹

So you know how stories have a timeline and some may cover like two years for example but be only around 2k words. HOW TO DO THATT??!? 😭 I always get stuck in time when I write something. If there is monday then there has to be tuesday and I just can't do a smooth slide to let's say the next week of the story. I really can't figure out how to do smooth time skips. So perhaps you have some tips? 😋💖

Waah my English isn't good so idk if you get what I mean. It's alright if you don't want to answer!! ^^

hiii my love!

firstly, u flatter me hello. best writer on tumblr is complete craziness!!! thank u so much for saying that though, you're very kind :') and i'm honored that you're entrusting this question to me!

secondly, this is all sooooo valid. navigating time is one of my biggest writing challenges among MANY so i'm not really sure i have the solution myself, but i can try to walk you through my process if you think that would help. i'm sorry in advance if it comes across as convoluted as i think it does 😭

instead of chronological, day-to-day accounts, i like to think of my fics as collections of important moments. "important" meaning significant for characterization, relationship progression, worldbuilding, etc. these moments don't usually happen back-to-back, because all change takes time.

if i can reference my own "ace," which i took special care to map out the timing for, about a week passes between every scene for most of the fic. i made it this way because i wanted there to be a lot of implicit development during those weeks; the couple needed to make their transition from acquaintances to lovers in a way that felt natural. but of course the development couldn't all be implicit, so the fic ends up being a collection of important moments that gives the reader just enough information to tag along on their journey. which is why u get scenes like mc taping hyun's hand in the training room, mc running out of the arcade heartbroken, and mc and hyun having a heart-to-heart on the gym floor

you can think of it as planting the seeds in one scene, letting them sprout and blossom "off camera" (aka during the timeskip), and then doing a garden reveal in the following scene. the two scenes are still very much interconnected—they still depict the same people in the same universe in the same storyline—but something about them has changed, and with it the plot has progressed

depending on what kind of story you're writing, consecutive days makes total sense, btw. in "crying lightning," i explicitly point out the timeskips with headers containing new locations and times preceding every scene because it the couple is a stylist/idol pair that travels together often over one year. in "everything has changed," which is probably closest to ur example of 2 years spanning 2k words, two years pass between every scene to place byeol growing up in parallel with felix and mc falling in love. but maybe you're writing, say, a camp counselor au or a zombie apocalypse au, and the characters only have limited time together; the way you'd write about a five-day period would look super different from a six-year period, u get me?

i am SO sorry about how long this got holy fuck i am truly terrible at putting anything about my writing process into words 😭 but TL;DR: 1) think of ur fics as compilations of important moments, 2) ~plant the seeds of change~ in one scene and reveal the end results in the next, and 3) think ab what timeframe/time-related format would work best for ur fic and go from there! your english is perfect btw <3 don't hesitate to lmk if u have any other follow-up comments or questions!

[shewritesinblackink]

The horizon of Dawn - a walking dead universe fanfic - part 1: the edge of time

twdxf!oc!

part 2 part 3 part 4 ( links to come)

summary: Every day since the end of the world as we know it, Dawn watches the sun set on the horizon, and the moon rises like an ancient goddess watching her from above. Accustomed to the silence of solitude, she suddenly finds herself tangled up with a group of survivors. And the great scheme of things is disturbed.

Beginning at the quarry, before Rick is found by Glenn. Merle finds Dawn snooping around their camp and brings her to the others. What will they do? Will they trust her? Everything changes, but is it for the better?

reposting this fanfic because i think i mainly posted it on AO3, btw here's the link if you prefer to read there.

Dawn stumbled on some hidden roots as she walked in the forest, careful not to make too much noise. Who knows what lies in this forest..

A branch suddenly snapped a little farther ahead and she immediately scooted down, hiding behind some bushes. Voices erupted from nearby and a rustle of leaves being stomped on came to Dawn’s ears. Someone, possibly multiple people, were somewhere near and the thought alone made her stomach turn into a tight knot. People.. alive..

Frankly she didn’t know what to think nor do. She stood frozen in place, listening to the voices and sounds. She heard laughter and yelling. Those people weren’t really discreet, they could attract any geeks roaming around.

Put up a giant sign that says “eat me!” that’ll be the same.

Letting a soft sigh escape her lips, Dawn stood up slowly and scanned the area, searching for any signs of a human presence near her, when the shuffling of leaves started again. This time Dawn located where the sound seemed to come from. After a few seconds the young woman started walking slowly, as silently as she could, and soon enough she could make out the outline of a camp. a camp! From her hiding spot she could see a few tents and people. A woman was skinning fishes and another one was putting the laundry to dry. Rising against the trunk of a tree Dawn tiptoed to see further and noticed a lot of cars and a man on the roof of an old looking RV. He had a rifle by his side and looked toward the only road leading to and out of the quarry.

Some kids were running around, laughing and playing with toys. A man was carrying an ax and another one dry branches– presumably to make a fire later in the evening.

Dawn left her spot for another, nearer the tent and the woman preparing the fishes. She was talking to someone else and they were laughing.

Who are they? Why are they laughing like nothing ever happened? The world went to shit and they are just camping like a big friend group would.

Getting a little bit closer, she listened in to the conversation, hoping to learn something about this group.

Maybe they have food.. that thought made her stomach growl and she stopped moving, hoping the women didn’t hear it. She waited a little but they didn’t move so she changed her position again, walking along the edge of the camp, hiding behind tents and running bent down when she had nothing to cover her but bushes.

What Dawn didn’t realize was that someone was also watching her.

Merle was silently standing a few meters away hidden by low branches and bushes, his hands in his pockets, as he was watching someone going around their camp. When he first spotted the silhouette behind the trees he’d thought it was another geek, but then he noticed how the shadow had moved, from trees to bushes, careful not to step on crunchy leaves and to stay low. He thought that whoever was that person, they were used to walking silently even before the world went to shit, or they were smart enough to understand the basics of surviving.

Not like those jackasses we’re stuck with, a scowl appeared on his face at the thought. 

At the beginning, he and his little brother Daryl had decided to follow the train of cars leaving the main road because they were heading in the opposite direction– not going for Fort Benning. They quickly drove on a dust road and arrived at the quarry and the brothers had thought it would indeed be smart to find a place to stay for a few days instead of being stuck on the road with all those things roaming the area.

But now, weeks had passed and they weren’t so sure of what to do anymore. Should they leave the group and try to survive by themselves, or should they stay? Merle couldn't bring himself to make a decision and Daryl didn’t seem much interested in leaving. A few nights ago they’d just talked about it and he had said to his big brother what’s the point o’ leavin’? Merle opened his mouth to retort something but felt silent, short on words. He didn’t know what to do so they silently agreed on staying until something happened, maybe an opportunity presenting itself or whatever.

A soft noise of leaves being moved brought the man back to the present, and his blue eyes moved frantically when he noticed the silhouette was gone. But he quickly remained calm as he spotted the person a little more on his left, peeking through the tents. Probably planning on stealing our stuff. His jaw tenses.

Quickly, he moved silently through the forest and came behind the silhouette as if hunting his next dinner. A sweet little deer would be perfect. Grabbing the person by the upper arm, he tossed them around and without giving a damn whether or not he was hurting them, he dragged them toward camp. “Look what i found!” he yelled at the others. The stranger immediately started to wiggle, trying to break free from his rude grasp but they were so close to the camp she didn’t have the time to throw a kick his way that he threw her to the ground heavily. The gravel hitting her sweaty palms, she quickly got up in a small cloud of dust, eying her surroundings expectantly.

Here under the hard sun of the early afternoon he could see the person more clearly. It was a young woman, probably in her early twenties, shoulder length hair the color of hazelnuts. Her eyes were scanning the people slowly gathering around her, jaw tight and twitching. They were whispering things and it made her feel uneasy, he saw her fingers move near her leg, as if they were itching. itching to grab somethin’ to defend herself, he scoffed to himself. Her gaze met his and it was defiant. Merle could see different emotions passing in her eyes, she was trying to suppress them, to control them. Anger, disorientation, fear.

He detailed her from head to toes; the hunting knife hung at her belt, her cargo pants, dirty hiking shoes and flannel button-down shirt. She was ready for the apocalypse, he thought and a smug smile appeared on his lips. She looked like the type of person who’s always ready for whatever comes their way.

This should be fun.

The women and men of the camp gathered around the stranger and were doing just like him; detailing her, watching every little detail about her. Her dirty face and hair, long nails untrimmed since a long time were dirty and bloody, some were broken or bite down. Multiple cuts on her fingers and hands had left soft scars on the flesh, and on her right arm he saw weird black lines running from her middle finger to hide beneath her sleeves. That detail picked his curiosity particularly.

Shit-head-Shane, like he called him in his mind, came closer than the rest of the crowd and held out a gun. S’he gonna shoot the deer?

“What the hell’s goin’ on?”

“Found ‘er snoopin’ around yer tents.”

Shane threw a weird look toward Merle, exhaling sharply as if the sound of his voice was enough to draw the worst in him. Shane opened his mouth, wanting to ask him what he was doing alone in the forest but he kept his mouth shut for once. He had to deal with something new. 

“And you are?” His eyes were now fixated on hers, dark like charcoal and his brow furrowed. She didn’t speak, didn’t even open her mouth.

Shane’s patience was thin, Merle knew it. She’d better start talking or she’d end up with a bullet in her pretty head.

“Hey! I asked you something!” He took a step closer and moved the gun toward her head, almost yelling. Everybody watched as she swallowed hard, thinking.

“Name’s Dawn.”

“Dawn, okay. Well, what were you doin’? Planning on takin’ our food?”

“No.”

Her brow was furrowed as if she was telling the truth but Merle wasn’t a fool. What a girl, alone in the forest, good as sneaking around, would do close to their camp if not steal their food or anything useful to her? Maybe she even had a settlement with people waiting for her. But it seemed odd as Daryl and him had spent the last weeks hunting in the forest, they never saw anyone, not even the smoke of a campfire.

“What were you doing? I’m not gonna ask this a third time.” Shane’s tone was low and sounded like thunder. He seemed so angry, so on edge, Merle thought he’d shoot the poor thing right here right now, in front of the others, with the children watching in horror.

The girl– Dawn, took a look around her. She observed the people gathered in a large circle far from her but not too much. They were scared but still wanted to witness what would happen, they wanted a show, drama to unfold. Life at the quarry was becoming too dull and boring now that they were all settled in a little routine.

Her chest rose and fell heavily, as though she was out of breath. And maybe she was from trying to get free from Merle’s grasp. Maybe she was scared. But a second and a blink later, she became an entire new person, as calm as the surface of a lake. She rose to her full height, scanning the crowd once more, her breathing became more regular and calm.

“I was walking when i heard noises so i went to check it out.” her tone was flat, not pleading, not asking. Almost confident. Almost. 

Shane let out a small laugh. hu-hu, mister shit-head is making fun of the new chick, that ain’t good.

“Why would you do that?”

“Do what?”

“You playin’ stupid on me?” Shane shook the gun, cocking his head to one side.

She didn’t answer, it was almost defiantly. Truly she didn’t even have an answer. Anything she would or could say would be for nothing as they would find something weird about it. As if during a zombie apocalypse a young woman traveling alone was the most bizarre thing.

Her gaze dropped to her dirt covered shoes, her hands hidden along her pants and too big shirt, making fists like she was trying to hold herself together.

“Don’t know,” she trailed off, looking up at Shane, eyes watery. “I was just alone when it all went to shit and..” She drew in a shaky breath, becoming another person again, Merle furrowed his brow in confusion. “And i didn’t know where to go.” She glanced at the crowd surrounding her like she was an actress on stage checking her audience, making sure everyone was listening. “Figured the woods would be safe enough for a few weeks.”

Merle noticed how everybody shifted from one foot to the other, crossing their arms or putting their hands in their pockets. Nobody knew what to do, and nobody wanted to deal with the situation if they were being honest. But they enjoyed the distraction. So did he.

***

When a big man walked up to her, Dawn didn’t know how she should play it so she started getting a hold of herself ; getting up to her full height, calm and unreadable face, arms on each side of her body. But she saw how the man talking to her felt more uncomfortable by her stance and attitude. So she shifted back to the scared young girl, maybe with a hint of naivety on her face. Eyes open big and watery, brow furrowed, mouth shut tight as though she was trying not to piss herself or burst into tears. She hoped her little character would convince them she didn’t mean any harm. Truly she was just alone in those woods when she heard the noises. But why would they believe her? why would hey believe anything i have to say?

The first to speak from the crowd of survivors was a woman. Short gray hair and worry written all over her face, she was clutching a little girl’s hand.

“Shane, i think you’re scaring her.” Her voice was soft and calm, almost a whisper.

So the big man’s name was Shane, okay, Dawn took notes mentaly.

“She’s just a lost girl, have a little sympathy.” And at that the short haired woman took a few steps until she was close to Dawn. So close she thought she was going to embrace her in a hug. The little girl stayed behind clutching her dirty teddy bear, eyes wild open.

“Carol.” Shane’s voice sounded like a warning but an old man stepped in. He had a hat and a sniper-rifle, Dawn recalled seeing him on the RV’s roof.

“Hey.” He offered her a warm smile and for no reason it made Dawn feel a little less scared. Because she was really scared, she just didn’t want to show it in the first place. She’d learned that, in life, showing weakness to the wrong person could end badly, so she always pulled on a stern face, trying to appear tough and hard.

The old man took off his hat, put it in the hand holding the rifle and held his now free hand out to Dawn. Was she supposed to shake it? Like everything was normal and this was just an encounter like they would’ve had before?

She shook it nonetheless. Her sweaty palm felt small and weak in his warm one. He smiled again and Dawn sniffed back tears, nodding slightly at him.

“Dale what the hell you doin’?” Shane had dropped his gun, but still held it firmly as if the newcomer would suddenly turn into one of those things and aggressively start eating whoever came too close.

“Welcoming a lost young girl by making her feel not scared, Shane.” The old man– Dale, threw a scowl at Shane. He insisted on each word, trying to put some sense into Shane’s head.

“He’s right,” another woman said, taking a step forward. She had long brown hair, curly from the humidity that stung in the air of the quarry. A little boy was clutching her tight.

Shane’s shoulders seemed to drop as his face distorted into something between laugh and incredulity.

“Lori–”

“No, Shane! Damn it! Look at her and tell me she looks seriously threatening to you?”

Dawn took it at her clue to look as scared and inoffensive as she could, and when Shane turned his head toward her she tried to muster some tears to make her appear even more frightened. He huffed in exasperation, not very convinced but turned on the safety of his gun and put it back in his holster at his waist.

Dawn took a good look at that scary man; he was wearing military boots and his pants and t-shirt looked awfully like some cop’s uniform. So he’s a cop, uh.

The young woman was trying to register as much information as she could while still appearing harmless. She hoped no one had seen her knife at her belt, even though she could easily make them believe she didn’t know how to use it. I’m not dangerous, she wanted to tell them, but was it true? Was she really as nice as she tried to appear?

Dale, placed a hand on her shoulder and started to walk her to the RV, the crowd started to dissipate as the show was ending. Carol and Lori followed them inside the vehicle.

***

After Dale took the new girl to the RV for whatever chit-chat he, Lori and Carol wanted to have, the rest of the crowd disappeared, everyone going back to their chores or whatever they were doing before. But as he stood in place, he saw the worried looks on some faces and the curiosity on some others, glancing toward the RV from time to time. Would they welcome her into the group or send her on her way? Or something else? He didn’t want to stand right there like an idiot but he was curious as to what kind of conversation the four of them were having.

Before even taking a step toward the RV, he saw in the corner of his eye the way Shane looked at him. That ain’t good. Merle spat on the floor.

Shit-face-Shane walked over to where Merle was still standing, his arms on his hips like he was the high commander of the quarry and the others his little obedient soldiers.

“How’d you find her?” It was a simple question but Merle found great pleasure in playing around with the cop.

He just shrugged and put on his best “go fuck yourself” kinda smile.

“Merle.”

“What?” Merle tried to seem surprised like a child caught with his hand in the candy jar, but he was more annoyed than anything. “ ‘was just walkin’ back to camp when i saw someone snoopin’ aroun’.” Shane didn’t know what to say, he was just angry and frustrated and needed to unleash his emotions on someone, and what better someone than Merle Dixon, the outcast of the group, uh?

“What now? You’d have preferred me to shoot ‘er before bringin’ her lifeless to camp?” He threw his arm open in a grant gesture and walked away before Shane could say anything back. If he stayed one more second in his presence he’d have his brain splattered all over the place in the blink of an eye.

After a long time in the RV, and a curious Andrea eavesdropping from the small window on the roof while she was on duty keeping watch, the three members of the group and the newcomer went out. Dawn was the last one to get out, her plaid shirt in one hand and her backpack in the other. The man noticed the black lines on her right arm he saw a few moments earlier, it was running along her arm from the fingers and was hidden by her t-shirt's short sleeves. From afar he couldn’t tell what it was supposed to look like.

curious.

Carol got back to her daughter and husband but Lori and Dale walked the young woman to Shane. They spoke a little and like a defeated man, Shane held up his hands in a surrounding motion. He then gestured toward the trunk of his truck and gave the girl a sleeping bag.

Her backpack wasn’t big and Merle couldn’t see any tent or camping materials. She’d have to sleep with the sky as only roof, but if she survived in the forest all this time without a tent nor a sleeping bag, he guessed she’d be just fine. Hell, who’s she?

That evening, the brown haired woman sat with the others around the campfire, eating one of the squirrels Daryl had brought back from his hunt. The man wasn’t there when Merle had discovered the woman so he had a curious look on his face upon seeing a stranger at their camp. His older brother vaguely told him the story.

She was now silently sitting between Dale and Glenn, staring at the embers in the foyer while eating her share with appetite. Obviously the young man had sympathized with her, they were about the same age and she probably felt less anxious with him. He was easy to be around, but even if she smiled shyly when he talked to her, she seemed more comfortable in the silence. When nobody seemed to notice her presence.

Shane didn’t took his eyes off of her, as if he could read her very deep secrets just by staring at her.

The others also noticed how hungry she seemed to be, and when the sweet Amy gave her half of her own share, she looked up at her in surprise. Merle knew that look. Afraid someone might snatch the plate away from her. 

It seemed like no one wanted to go to sleep after dinner; beers were being opened and some people started asking questions to Dawn.

How is it being on your own? How did you survive the outbreak? Why didn’t you leave for Fort Benning like everyone else? Where is your family?

She started to shut off at that last question, which led a very thoughtful Glenn to ask other questions about her past, before telling her a bit about his.

“I was a delivery guy. What about you?” he gave her a weak smile, trying to be comforting maybe.

But she hesitated.

“Nothing special,” she let her sentence in suspens, shrugging.

 An awkward silence fell onto the small circle of survivors, some of them sipping on their warm beers– no more cooler in the apocalypse.

They talked a bit more but she seemed exhausted like the rest of them, so one by one they started to head toward their tents. Dawn settled her sleeping back next to the fireplace.

***

The next few days went by pretty simply; Dawn took part at the activity around camp, helping with the laundry, collecting woods and helping preparing the food. But Shane made it a clear point that she wasn’t allowed anywhere near the kids nor in the forest without surveillance. She wasn’t allowed any weapons, so she had to, reluctantly, give her knife to the cop– he eyed her suspiciously when he saw the hunting sharp blade and almost made a comment, but decided against it.

She slept in the open air, under the stars and she liked it, even though it could get a bit chilly at times when the embers of the small fire wouldn’t last long.

She felt a bit like an outcast even if people would smile at her, they would still throw side-glance her way and whisper in her back. Thankfully some women tried to make her feel more at ease, usually by talking, they would laugh and have some good time.

Still, Dawn felt weird. Sure the people were nice, nicer she could have hoped and Glenn and Amy were about her age so she mostly spent her time with them. The other women were good people as well, Carol was really nice and gentle, Andrea was honest and straightforward, Jacqui was a sweetheart too; they all were really nice to Dawn. It was something she wasn’t used to and didn’t really know how to deal with. Usually she was by herself, not talking much to people or interacting with strangers, so everything was new for the young woman.

She didn’t have much friends before, and certainly won’t make a lot of friends now that the vast majority of humans had turned into eating-flesh monsters. She hoped this group would grow to like her more, and vice versa. She really wanted it to work, now that she had a taste at living in a small community fighting together against the rest of the world. It seemed surreal.

Eventually those people would abandon or reject her, and she would feel worse than she already felt. And maybe she won’t even survive this time. She tried her best to cast the dark thoughts out of her mind, and it was easier when she had something to do. It was easier when she was not alone with herself, alone with her thoughts running and running like mad dogs in her head. So, everyday since she arrived at camp, she watched as the sun would set on the quarry and how life would become quieter. It seemed everything became calmer and safer at the end of the day. But she wasn’t a fool, she knew what it meant when the sun would start his race toward the horizon to hide and let the moon rise.

She knew it meant she would soon enough be alone in her sleeping bag, staring at the stars silently while her mind would play tricks on her. Sometimes a single tear would escape but she’d quickly sniffle and whip it away, closing her eyes she’d try to think about other things and eventually fall asleep.

And the next day would be the same.

any comments or recommendations/thoughts on this first part is welcome! or if you have some ideas on where the story should go, let me know!