#even though nobody in my family had a full-time job at the time.

[choking-on-roses]

I am so used to being an afterthought in everyone's lives that if someone came along who put genuine effort into spending time with me, like truly just wanted to hang out with me and made time to do it, I would probably 1) break down sobbing and 2) immediately fall in love with them

[vivwritesfics]

POV: Oscar saves reader

An NNTA AU

Just before she is due to marry Carlos, Oscar takes her away

For this, i'm pretending all the US immigration stuff doesn't exist, like, I know its seriously difficult to get a visa to live and work in the US, but i've ignored that here

Series Masterlist

It was the night before the wedding and Y/N was crying into her pillow

You know how the story goes, what happens when she marries Carlos

And, in a way, she knew it too

She knew what was going to happen to her, the impending tragedy she could feel coming

No amount of consoling from Oscar had any effect

In our original story, Oscar disappears to get some beers and let her have one last fun night

But, in this story, Oscar didn't do that

While she had been sleeping, Oscar was wide awake, putting things in place to get her away from Carlos's house

The hardest part had been getting a car and stashing it outside of the gates

If it was still there when they went to escape, he would have been incredibly surprised

"Pack your bags," said Oscar as he gently pulled her away from the pillow and wiped the tears from beneath her eyes

"Osc," she began, but he threw a bag onto the bed and pulled an already packed one from beneath it

Wordlessly, she got on with it, packing her things into the bag

The bag was tiny, not nearly big enough to pack all of her things

But she did what she could

"What're we doing?"

Oscar took her hand and kissed the back of it

He pulled open her bedroom door, keeping his hand on his gun as she looked up and down the corridor

When he saw nothing, he walked out, Y/N trailing behind him

He went to the stairs, kept his gun pointed down as he looked for any of Carlos's men

They had a clear run to the stairs

Oscar kept a tight hold of Y/N as they ran towards the front door

Outside would be a different story - there would be cameras everywhere and probably some men too

"When we're out there, run like hell," he said and waited for Y/N to nod before he opened the door

They did just like that, ran like hell

The gates weren't the most sophisticated and Oscar easily got them open

He took Y/N's hand and pulled her towards the car that was still stashed away

Within seconds they were driving towards the airport, and nobody even knew they had left

"Where are we going, Osc?" Y/N asked as she leaned her head against the window

Finally, he answered her, "The Sargeants have offered us a place to stay in the United States," he said as they drove on the highway

The flight from Spain to the US was long and Y/N slept through most of it

Oscar didn't, though

He kept his arms wrapped around her, alert and protective

When they touched down in Florida, Logan and two other men in suits were there to greet them

"I'm putting my ass on the line for you, mate," (because I love the way logan says mate) he said as he pulled Oscar in close

Oscar looked at the girl behind him

"She's worth it," he said

The Sargeants had multiple safehouses

That was where Oscar and Y/N found themselves, in one of the Sargeant's safehouses

It was their perfect little haven

It was hard for Y/N not to fall in love with Oscar

If she wasn't already in love with him when she lived in Carlos's house, she certainly was now

The safehouse had one bed (because I love that trope)

At first Oscar refused to sleep in the same bed as her

He took a couple of pillows and slept on the floor

But then Y/N insisted that he sleep in the bed with her

They fell into a domestic sort of bliss, and that was how they got together

They didn't think about it the first time they kissed, laying in the bed they now shared

It had become normal for Oscar to hold her close while they slept, still protective

For a full year, their life was normal

Y/N wanted to get a job, she wanted that sort of normality, so she did

She went by her middle name, calling herself Piastri instead of Norris

That made Oscar wear his polite cat smile

Oscar got a job too, working for the Sargeant family

It was really nice, working with his best friend

They went karting together, taking Oscar back to the days before he began working for Webber, when his Formula One dreams were close to being a reality

After a year of peace, Lando found them

It had been a solo mission, something he hadn't told anybody about

His men didn't know, the man that should have been his brother in law didn't know

Lando made the trip to Florida alone, letting Sargeant know that he was on his way

The Sargeants pulled Y/N and Oscar in

Oscar was immediately protective when Lando walked into the room, but the Brit held his hands up defensively

"Relax, nobody knows I'm here," he said, looking at his sister (who had been pushed behind Oscar)

"I'm proud of you," he said, "both of you"

"Both of us?" Asked Oscar, unable to stop the face he was pulling

Lando nodded his head

"You got my little sister away from a marriage that i never wanted to happen"

Y/N stepped forward. "Why are you here, Lando?"

Truth was that Lando wasn't going to come, not until he found out that she was going by Piastri

That gave a certain idea (that they were together) and Lando couldn't not check it out

He was right, it seemed

The way Oscar was protectively in front of her told Lando everything he needed to know

The way Y/N was holding the back of Oscars white button up shirt told him

"I'm here giving my blessing"

"I don't need it," Y/N replied quickly

"I don't care, you've got it"

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[thisismeracing]

Not quite love | CL16

read the full piece here

― Pairing: charles leclerc x friend!reader (she/her) ― Warning: mentions of alcohol and food; friends to lovers; angst; unrequited love; not been proofread yet; 2k words. ― Summary: When you get romantically involved with your best friend you were not expecting a marriage proposal, but simply a commitment. You were sure that what you had wasn’t quite love, though it could be and maybe that’s what hurt the most. The fact that you had everything to be each other’s end game, but turned out to be strangers. 

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preview

You and Charles had everything to be the perfect couple.

To have the perfect story.

A book-worthy one.

You were long-time friends.

Though your family wasn’t very fond of him, his family loved you, and that was enough. Over half of your friends in common hinted about you guys getting together. The dynamic was this good from the outside, and so was the tension whenever you were together. 

You would share desserts, dance with each other, sleep in the same bed after friends get together –nothing sexual ever happened, and maybe that’s the reason why it was so intimate and ground to tension flourish. It was beyond the physical. At least for you. 

It all took a turn when you finally moved to Monaco to study and work.

*****

“Don’t cry, chérrie,” he cooed, lips finding a few droplets of tears and cutting short their path on your cheeks. You turned your head in his direction, closing your eyes and enjoying the feeling of his warm skin against yours, seeking the solace of it. 

The Monegasque read the way your body leaned in, the way your face felt hotter against his lips, and he lined his breathing with yours giving you enough time to pull back, but you didn’t. In fact, you broke the barrier of space between you two, pressing your lips in a feverish kiss. Charles answered in a second, gripping your waist and bringing you impossibly closer. His tongue was demanding, and his body against yours felt different than the other times. More intimate. 

“Fucking finally,” you could almost hear your friends with their hands up to the heavens, so you chuckled, ultimately breaking the kiss. Charles grinned.

“If I knew this is all it would take for you to smile I would have greeted you with a kiss,” his teasing earned a giggle from you.

*****

[...] At the end of the day Charles would sleep at your place –or you at his– at least once a week. You would still share movie nights like when you were just friends. He would still send you funny TikTok he watched, and you were still telling him about all the books you read. 

Those were things boyfriends and girlfriends did, you knew that, nevertheless, you wanted to believe that he was planning something. Or that maybe he already saw you that way. Maybe he was afraid of the constant travel and the pressure of his career and media. Maybe he was trying to protect you from the fans. 

Charles never voiced any of this. Never sat down to talk about it, and you didn’t ask. Not until you graduated and got a job proposal in America. It wasn’t France, Germany, or Sweden, places you knew would be easier to gravitate to Monaco when the schedule let you. It was oceans apart, but it also felt like an opportunity to compromise, to keep your –hopefully official- relationship going. 

The thing is, life is unpredictable. You can’t guess what someone is feeling or how they will react. Your mom would always tell you that the heart is unknown ground – a place nobody will ever explore in its plenitude. You only get in the rooms the other allows, and even then inside there are tons of places that not even the owners visited. 

To know yourself is hard, and to know the other is even harder.

You didn’t know Charles.

────── ⋆🪩 VOICEMAIL: Hi! I hope you guys liked this lil sneak peek! I'm sorry I'm a day late with this piece, but I am happy to be publishing it the day our Monegasque won his home race (though it's a sad piece, it's still with him so :D hehe). Make sure to like and reblog to help your fellow writer *mwah*

If you liked this piece and want early access to new ones and exclusive access to others, subscribe to my patreon!💘  ▸ check my main masterlist | patreon guide and my taglist.

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©thisismeracing ― do not copy, steal, or translate my work; do not repost on a different media platform.

[cutielando]

not so happy reunion | r.c.

synopsis: in which the reunion in the Cameron family is a disaster

my masterlist

From the moment you and Rafe got engaged, you had left the Outer Banks.

Not because you were keen on doing so, but because Rafe wanted to escape from the hold his family, specifically his father, had on him.

You moved into a beautiful mansion on the mainland, both of you had stable and high-paying jobs, so you were living comfortably.

You had also gotten married after a year and a half of moving, only with a few close friends, Wheezie, Sarah and your family. Per Rafe's request, Sarah and Wheezie hadn't told their parents why they were visiting the mainland, using the excuse of a much needed girls' trip.

Even though you had advised Rafe to at least let his family know about the wedding, he vehemently insisted that you didn't tell them anything, claiming he didn't want them to ruin his perfect day with you like they did everything else.

However, Ward didn't want to accept the fact that Rafe didn't want to have anything to do with him or his family anymore, hence always sending you an invitation to the annual Midsummers party.

Every single time, Rafe would come up with an excuse as to why you couldn't make it. You were either busy with your jobs, you were feeling under the weather, you missed your flight, the excuse range was very wide.

However, now that you were also pregnant with your first child, you figured it would be time to pay the old OBX a visit, for old times' sake.

Rafe, even though he agreed on your behalf, was very much not excited to be back.

"Have we got everything?" you were finishing up packing your bags, making sure you had put everything you would need for your 2 day stay.

"Do we really have to go?" Rafe asked from where he was sitting on your shared bed, pouting like a small child.

You sighed and chuckled, amused because he was still trying to convince you not to go when you were literally minutes away from leaving for the island.

"Baby, we haven't been back there in almost 3 years. Don't you think it's time we do go and show people we're still alive and happily together?" you moved your hands so they were resting on his shoulder, his eyes at a level with your growing bump.

He sighed and leaned forward to kiss your bump and cradle it in his hands.

"I don't want her to be in that environment" he mumbled, speaking about your unborn daughter.

The moment you had found out you were having a girl, Rafe couldn't stop dotting on you. He was so excited to have another little princess running around, a mini-you. He was doing everything to make sure he got the hang of it all, from reading books to taking some daddy-and-me classes, watching videos and grilling his co-workers about advice.

He was the most prepared father-to-be ever.

"Baby, everything is going to be fine. She's safe in there, nobody is going to do anything to her, or me, or you. We're just gonna see some old friends, have a little fun and try not to get into arguments with your father. We're leaving as soon as we can, okay?" you were running your hands through his hair, twirling his dirty blonde locks around your fingers.

He nodded and kissed your bump one last time before getting up, taking your bags and hauling them to your car.

The ride to the OBX was quiet, Rafe's hand consistently resting on your bump as he drove and yours resting on top of his.

As you observed Rafe for the whole ride, you noticed how much he started tensing up the closer  you got to the island, full on freaking out by the time he had parked his car.

"Okay, let's get this over with" he muttered as he got out of the car and jogged to your side, opening your door and taking your hand in his, interlocking your fingers.

You slowly made your way to the reception, more and more of your old friends recognizing you and stopping to chit chat.

At first, Rafe's hand was tightly holding yours tensely, but his grip slowly became more tender and less tense as he finally managed to calm down and enjoy seeing his friends.

"Rafe?" Ward's voice boomed through the party, making everyone around you stop to observe the interaction.

Rafe cursed under his breath but turned around, coming face to face with his father.

"Dad" Rafe nodded and said, his grip on your hand tightening slightly.

You started caressing the side of his hand with your thumb, trying to keep him grounded and calm.

"Oh, it's so good to see you, my boy" the man pulled his son into a tight hug, squeezing him like never before.

Rafe coughed and just patted his father on the back, one of his hands still linked with yours. You could only imagine how uncomfortable the situation was for your husband.

"And I see you brought your girlfriend as well" Ward said once his eyes fell on you.

"Wife, actually" you proudly corrected the man, your other hand now resting on your clearly visible bump.

Ward's eyes followed your hand and once he saw the wedding band on your hand holding your baby bump, his jaw went slack and he was at a loss of words.

Rafe cleared his throat and let go of your hand, instead opting to wrap his arm around your waist and pull your body flush against his.

"I can't believe this. Congratulations. When did this happen?" his voice was now back to his usual icy tone, surely figuring out the fact that he hadn't been invited to his son's wedding.

"Almost 1 year and a half ago. Found out we were expecting a couple of months ago" Rafe's gaze on his father hadn't let up.

Ward nodded, biting the inside of his cheek visibly.

"And you didn't think to invite your family?" he bit back.

"Wheezie and Sarah were there. The only family I needed with me" 

The music had now stopped, everyone concentrating on the brewing tension between the two Cameron men.

"What are we and Rose then? We raised you!" 

"With all due respect, you didn't do shit. You left him to fend for himself his entire life and didn't give a shit about his well-being because you were too obsessed with Sarah. You don't get to do that anymore. We didn't want you there because you didn't deserve to be there, just like you are never going to be a part of our child's life" you burst, not wanting to let Rafe deal with this by himself.

Ward's eyes widened as they shifted from his son to you. He had remembered you as the calculated one from the couple, always trying to keep the waters calm and Rafe under control. He didn't expect you to talk back to him like that.

"We're clearly not welcome here, so we're going to leave" Rafe said.

On your way out, you bid goodbyes to some of your friends and gave Ward one last look before getting into your car and driving away.

"I'm sorry, I thought it would be a good idea" you said once you had made it home, now safe and sound in the sheets of your bed with your husband.

"Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. At least we managed to catch up with people before disaster struck" he teased, kissing your shoulder and hugging you from behind, his hands cradling your bump.

You laughed and settled in bed, drifting off to a peaceful sleep with the two most important people in your life: Rafe and your daughter.

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[dixons-sunshine]

Shopping Spree, Hangout Dreams AU Headcannons: Part Three | Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Word count: 861.

A/n: So I've made it a habit recently to post a fic every one-two days, but I was extremely busy today, so I didn't have time to start working on any of my other requests. I still wanted to post something, though, so here's a part three to my personal headcannons for the SSHD AU that nobody asked for. This is mostly set in the future but before the outbreak. I hope y'all like these! If you wanna see more, let me know.

➳༻❀✿❀༺➳

★ After graduating high school, you went to college to get a degree in teaching.

★ Daryl didn't go to college, however. He felt like more school was unnecessary for him, but he encouraged you to do it since he knew you wanted to become a teacher.

★ Daryl managed to land a job as an apprentice of sorts to a mechanic and got a second job as a bouncer after a while, and used some (most of it but he didn't tell you that) of the money to help pay for your tuition and textbooks.

★ You had your suspicions about it, and got a job of your own to help pay for everything. However, Daryl shot down any talks of you getting a second job, claiming that one job was already hard enough added on top of college.

★ The two of you rented a crappy, worn down apartment until you graduated and landed a full-time teaching job at a kindergarten near Atlanta, and you and Daryl finally managed to upgrade to a decent apartment.

★ Once the two of you had settled down and had gotten hitched at the courthouse, you invited your mother over for a housewarming of sorts.

★ She definitely tore into you both for eloping, but in the end, she was ultimately happy for the two of you.

★ She started teasingly calling you Mrs Dixon at every opportunity, and playfully threatening Daryl that if he ever broke your heart, she'd kill him.

★ She was a decade too late for that talk, however, so Daryl paid it no mind whatsoever.

★ Your mom was practically your best friend, so when she died three years later due to cancer, you were devastated.

★ You regretted not having a proper wedding like your mom had wanted you to have, but Daryl assured you that she didn't hate you for it.

★ Daryl was also heartbroken. He couldn't believe that the sweet woman who had basically taken him in was dead.

★ It was a hard couple of months after that, but Daryl refrained from falling into old habits and distancing himself to deal with his emotions alone. He reminded himself that you were a team and that you needed him more than ever at that moment. He couldn't pull away at a time like that.

★ Things got better with time. With the both of you taking the time to properly grieve and mourn, it got easier. The sadness when you thought of her death never fully vanquished, but with time, you were feeling better, visiting her grave whenever you had the chance.

★ When you and Daryl moved from the trailer park all those years ago, he didn't tell anyone from his family where he was going.

★ He didn't even tell his father. He just packed his bags with his things and silently disappeared from the trailer.

★ Merle didn't know about it, either. Daryl loved his brother but he knew what a dick he was and what he involved himself in, and he didn't want that in his new life with you. He wanted to start fresh, wipe the slate clean.

★ It was a couple of months before the outbreak when you and Daryl saw Merle again. You were walking around, doing grocery shopping, when you bumped into him.

★ Merle was immensely surprised when he noted the wedding rings on both of your fingers, and demanded to know why he wasn't invited to the wedding.

★ However, he guessed he shouldn't have been surprised when Daryl bitterly spat out that there wasn't a wedding and that you eloped. If he knew anything about Daryl, it's that he doesn't do big, fancy events.

★ About a month before the outbreak, you started feeling nauseous and more tired than usual. A total of three pregnancy tests confirmed that the reason for that wasn't because you were ill, but because you had a life growing inside of you.

★ Daryl was surprised to find out you were pregnant. Neither of you planned the pregnancy and it was extremely unexpected.

★ However, you both decided to keep the baby.

★ Daryl was scared of what parenthood had in store for him. He didn't want to end up like his father or be even worse than him.

★ It took for you to gently talk him through his fears for him to start calming down.

★ After he was calmed down, he allowed himself to feel happy. The two of you were in a stable environment with enough money between the both of you to accommodate a baby, so he felt himself relax.

★ That didn't last long, because soon the two of you would hear about the dead rising and see the news reports that warn you to evacuate immediately.

©dixons-sunshine 2024. I do not give permission for my works to be copied, modified, adapted or translated to any other site or platform without evidence of my given consent.

[undertale-fic-librarby]

hey friend, do u have any Mafiafell Sans x Fem! reader recommendations? Im not really sure where to start. NSFW is welcomed but im fine with whatever<33

Howdy, thanks for asking! Here are some fics that might fit what you're looking for!

Bouquet of Regrets by Witchcraftandwine (Mature, Complete)

After taking a bullet protecting the judge Sans from a stupid mobster a woman finds herself in the care of the powerful Aster mob family. Having carefully maintained a balance to keep her mother safe now she finds herself sinking deeper and deeper into a world she's terrified she's to well suited for.

Putting on the Ritz by ares89 (Explicit, Complete)

Really, your employer, Frankie, is a good man, even though he is a gangster, but he miscalculates badly when he uses you to end a deal with a monster. It seems this Sans is more interested in you than the business deal.

There's a snake in my bed! by Little_old_lady (Teen And Up, Complete)

A small red snake worms its way into your room, and consequently your heart, as does its far larger, more skeletal "owner".

Not All That Glitters by lvandrr (Mature, Incomplete)

"It's the city. Nobody likes it." "only if you're at the bottom, missy." You're a simple girl, just trying to get by in a world that eats everyone up alive. With monsters having emerged from the underground not too long ago, power dynamics are pried apart and old systems are broken as more and more chaos taints the streets. Amidst all that a certain skeleton gets a taste for you, quickly weaving you into his world, deeper and deeper until there is no escape from the city's most rotten core. *Mafiafell! Sans x Reader* *First Person POV*

Hold My Calls, Songbird by William_Voidson (Mature, Incomplete)

With mobsters in the city having progressively growing power, it can be difficult to find a stable job in between turf wars and changing rules. And thanks to the old bastard Don Tannenbaum who about a week ago had deliberately went out looking for a fight, he lost his entire area to three new Dons. Only a few select people know their full names and rumour has it they happen to be Monster Dons, but they haven’t made an official appearance as Dons to explain the new rules and why the protection fee had been ordered off so no one knows for sure… But lucky lucky you. While searching for a new job you found one open as one of these Dons’ secretary, you’d had experience as one before so it would be easy to fill out an application. All you needed to do now was arrive on time and see who would be your newest boss. For some strange reason you felt as though this would be the last one…

[baileypie-writes]

HI can I plz request a oneshot for Velvet and Veneer with a preteen sister reader? (Abt age 12-13 and in middle school). They notice for the past few weeks, reader is always doing her makeup when they go out, always smiling at her phone, stuff like that.

But one day, they overhear a conversation a phone call that reader is having with her friends. They find out that their baby sis is crushing on a boy. And Velvet looks proud, giving her advice while Veneer is js like ":0"

A/N ~ Sure! Hope you enjoy!

~An Older Sibling’s Job~

Velvet and Veneer + Preteen!Younger Sister!Reader

Fandom: Trolls 3: Band Together

Relationship: Familial

Synopsis: Velvet and Veneer find out that you have a crush on a boy, so they do what any older sibling would do.

Warnings: Velvet and Veneer teasing Reader

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey! Is that my makeup?” Velvet asked. Though she knew that it was.

You just froze, staring at her. She caught you red handed. “Yeah. Sorry.” You sighed in defeat.

Velvet scoffed. “This is, like, the fifth time this week! Buy your own! Why are you so interested in makeup all of a sudden anyway?”

You turned away, hiding the embarrassment on your face. “Nothing. Just… growing up, I guess.” You made up the excuse. You finished applying blush to your cheeks, then gathered all the makeup and shoved it into Velvet’s hands. “Here. Now get out of my room!”

You slammed the door in her face, starting her. Velvet let out an offended huff, and stomped away.

~~~~

“Hey, Veneer, why’s (name) acting so weird lately. She’s always in her room, and she’s been stealing my makeup. She’s never even been interested in makeup before.” Velvet asked her twin.

“I have no idea, but she is definitely acting weird. She’s on her phone a whole lot more now. I knew getting her a new one was a bad idea.” Veneer responded.

Velvet folded her arms and started to think, Veneer doing the same. After a few moments, she had an idea, and he seemed to have one too.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Velvet asked mischievously.

“Spy on (name)?” Veneer responded in the same way. One shared smirk confirmed the idea, and set their plan into motion.

~~~~

The twins tip-toed over to your bedroom door. Veneer stumbled, nearly knocking them both ever. Velvet thankfully caught him, and shushed him.

They put their ears over the door, and listened. You were on the phone with one of your friends. Luckily, they were on speaker, so they could hear the full conversation.

“You’re coming to the mall with us, right?” Your friend asked.

“Of course I’m coming! Hanging out with you guys is so fun!” You responded.

Your friend laughed teasingly. “Oh, yeah. That’s totally the reason you’re coming.”

“Yeah? What other reason would there be?”

“Oh c’mon, (name)! I know you’re coming because (crush’s name) is gonna be there!”

“Ugh, fine! You got me!” You confessed.

Velvet and Veneer turned to each other, sharing the same shocked look.

You had a crush.

~~~~

“Veneer, can you drive me to the mall? Please?” You begged, giving your best puppy eyes that always won Veneer over.

“Sure!” He agreed, grabbing his car keys, but Velvet stopped him.

“-IF… you tell us who (crush’s name) is.” She said with a smirk.

You gasped. “How do you know-? You were spying on me weren’t you?!” You accused.

“Maybe… So who is he?” Veneer avoided your question.

“Nobody! He’s just some guy!”

“Some guy that you like!” Velvet teased. You groaned loudly, completely embarrassed. The twins laughed for a few seconds, before Velvet got more serious. She nelt down a bit to be at your level, and put a hand on your shoulder. “Here’s some tips to get guy’s attention. Look them in the eyes, make sure to compliment them, and bat your eyelashes.”

“How’s batting my eyelashes gonna-“

“Just trust me!” She then stood back up, and signaled to Veneer to go.

“Alright, (name), let’s go! And on the way, you’re gonna tell me all about this (crush’s name). Ugh, I can’t believe our baby sister has a crush!” He said, leading you out of the house.

You groaned again. “Why are you guys acting like this? It’s not a big deal!”

“It’s just an older sibling’s job, (name).” Velvet said casually, and lightly pushed you out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~baileypie-writes

[jellybeanium124]

Hello I'm a schengen zone resident and I love it! I cannot imagine what it would be like to have borders that are actually for keeping people in? I am young enough to not remember a time with closed borders in Europe. My parents remember it though, and they also only have bad things to say about borders. Europe isn't big. European countries aren't big. At least, not on American scales. And there are a lot of countries, some of them tiny, and a lot of goods and a lot of people constantly move between them. Economically, open borders have enabled an open European market that was beneficial for all countries in the schengen area.

And for the people? Some of us are mostly only affected if we choose to travel for a holiday (my most recent holiday had a drive through three countries and there wasn't a holdup at any borders, nobody searched my car etc). But for people living near borders? It is life-changing. There are towns and villages that had borders go right through them. You couldn't go visit your aunt or go to the bakery down your street without going over a border, which might involve fun stuff like being searched for weapons or smuggling (or just, you know, generalised border authority discrimination and harassment). And on the way back, whee, you can experience this again!

No-one who lives near a border wants it back. Even among Europeans who don't live near a border, the overwhelming majority does not want to go back to having borders. Now some people live in one country and go to work on the other side of the border. They have friends and family across the border. Nationalism is a thing that exists as a right wing movement, but, the average person you meet on the street? Hates borders and never wants nothing to do with them. Because like, borders are so stupid?

Have you been in a border region? I have been to many. And at some point, you're sitting on a big rock on an alpine summit (the Alps are one single big border region, and as such also have a long history of wars being fought to move these borders a few kilometres here or there). So you're sitting there, admiring the view, and you compare your map, and look, that mountain with the white top over there? That's France! That one there? Switzerland! You are currently in Austria, but your hike will take you to a bit of Italy later. And you sit there, in this magnificent landscape, and you're hiking through it, and there are no borders. There is nothing there in the real world that would make a border. Borders are fake! I can see this mountain, this lake, this village full of people down there! They are not far from here, I can walk there in a bit, and the trees beside the roads willl be the same, and we're in the same landscape, and these are the same people. The trees and the mountains and the humans too have been here for millions of years (or at least tens of thousands for the people, but, semantics). You want to make up a line dividing something that has been one undivided Earth and tell me everything has to stay in this made up cage? Laughable. Ridiculous. These are my neighbours over there! They have been able to go over here and we have been able to go over there (again) for longer than I have been alive now, and nothing bad has happened.

There's a lot of right wing pushing in Europe right now to close borders again, primarily to make it harder to get into the schengen space by closing the "outside borders" more tightly, but also by reinstating border controls within states, born out of racism and fear of the "evil foreigners coming to destroy our culture, steal our jobs and reap the benefits of our social welfare system", and I hate it so much. People aren't like that! The people behind the border, any border, are people like you! Sure, some of them are bad, but some people inside your country are bad too, that's the nature of humanity, some people are dicks, and it doesn't mean all the people who are not dicks can't have freedom and nice things. Thirty years of open borders have proven that crime does not go up, that people travel more, that some people choose to move to a different country when that's easy enough, for economic reasons or for personal reasons, but that most Italians actually want to stay in Italy because that's their home and people tend to feel connected to their homes. And the same is true for people all over the world, I think. People like to travel and experience different places, some people like to go out into the wide wide world and make a life somewhere far away, but most of us actually prefer living in our home places most of the time, and the global problem is that through shit like colonialism and wars and exploitation and destruction of resources for a lot of people their homes aren't safe to live anymore. Those are the problems, and borders don't solve any of them, in fact they make them worse. So maybe politicians could stop building more fucking borders with more fucking border installations intended to hurt people, and instead use all this border enforcement money to make things suck less all over the world. Build wells and school and solar panels and pass out vaccines and medicine and teach our children more about "all of us humans" and less about "those guys over there behind the fence". The guys behind the fence are like you. The average person anywhere in the world is concerned with living their own lives, they want to have a safe home and enough to eat and to spend time with their friends and to watch their children grow up. They are not out to get you. Their living behind a made up line does not increase their likelihood to be out to get you. So we should work on getting rid of the made up line, and the inequalities between the different sides of it, and of the hate and the racisms and the prejudice.

It sounds like a ridiculous dream, when you say you want a whole borderless world, when you say you dream of a world that's peaceful and where people are safe and free. But 70 years ago, Europe's countries had just fought a big war. Everything was in ruins. My grandfather talked about growing up amongst ruins and fear. But only a few decades later, people were able to travel between the countries that had been at war, and move from one to the other to work and live there, and then they basically got rid of the borders. It can be done! There is proof, I'm living in it, and so are millions of others! And I'm not going to let right wing assholes take these freedoms away from me and everyone else here because they made a boogieman out of people who come here as victims of a deeply cruel and unjust world. No, I want the freedoms I have for everyone on this planet. Fuck wars and hate and borders. Walk down this hill and meet your neighbours at the other side of the made up line!

I think more politicians should go out hiking and see the real world and the real people who live in it.

x

[mysaldate]

Lilith should go back to what they had before

Crossposting from Reddit because I am tired of how the new AFK Arena writers keep trampling over incredible lore.

This is gonna be long so TLDR: Anything from ALucius onward has been one continuous middle finger to the lore community with insane retcons that ruined both characters and the world of Esperia and I just wish the game went back to what it had before.

Okay, now with the TLDR out of the way, let me preface this with brief history of my involvement with the game (just to avoid any comments accusing me of not knowing the game): I've been playing on and off pretty much since launch (missed about two or so weeks at launch) but got really into it before the Overlord collab. One thing that kept me invested for years to come was the lore. Lilith has done an incredible job crafting an interesting varied world full of all kinds of people and characters. I've been creating fanworks, crafting theories with my fellow lore nerds, bought the artbook as soon as it was announced, and also got invited to the official dev and players meeting in Germany last year. I adore old AFK lore because it is the most well-crafted world I've ever seen in a mobile game and it was definitely the main reason I've stayed for so long.

However, things shifted around the time ALucius released. His story completely retconned Lucius' original story which is what made him so lovable for me and a lot of my lore-interested friends. Lucius isn't someone who didn't join the army on a whim because he didn't want to. He was deeply traumatized as a child and even tried the military before realizing it just wasn't for him. No, instead now he's more like a petulant child who just didn't want to follow the family tradition. And let me tell you, it didn't get better from there on out. The biggest offender though, of course, are the Draconis.

The Draconis as a whole are a mess. Firstly, they completely retcon Dura's involvement in the Age of Arcana which completely breaks the world. To explain a long story very quickly, Dura gave humans magic which led to an arms race between the humans and the gods, making the gods send Annih to deal with it, leading to the creation of the Ya who would later split into Maulers and Wilders, which then led to the Cinder War where humans basically turned on each other, Quaedam was one of the powerful mages who died during this time, and finally, it made Annih the scapegoat for when the post-war mortals found out about what the gods (or rather, just Annih in their eyes) did, and of course, Annih then created the Hypogeans. If you take Dura out of the equation, there's no arms race because there is no need for it. If you remove her involvement, 4/6 factions in the game wouldn't even exist in the world. This seemingly insignificant detail (that was only edited to make Dura seem better anyway) completely breaks the world but oh boy, we're just starting.

During the Cinder Wars, dragons were nearly driven into extinction. According to the old lore, the last few remaining dragons hid underground and fell into a deep slumber to recover their strength. In their dreams, they created Tasi to guard them and ensure their safety. This was true up to when Gavus and Eugene were added into the game as they literally had a run-in with a dragon in its underground lair. These dragons also have a deep-rooted hatred for humanity to the point where even seeing two babies is enough to send them into a blind rage and try to kill them. They would've gone into hibernation before year 1 CE, meaning at least 35 years before the first Hypogean invasion even began. Instead, in the new lore, Dura took the dragons (but not the other enslaved and tortured races) and dropped them on a random island with the condition that they would "help when the need is worst" or something. And the dragons now also fought in the first Hypogean war which now supposedly happened before they were taken to the island? And nobody has any records of them fighting in it at all? And of course, they are totally fine helping out humans (let's also not forget that originally, it was Dura who gave humans the means to enslave dragons in the first place and we've seen from Gavus' story and the Chains of the Covenant comic that the dragons have little respect for the Celestials exactly because of that). There is also the idea that the dragons have always been noble and protectors of humanity but that is far from the truth too. During the Floating Isles Abyssal Expedition season, we got confirmation on what was already suggested earlier – the dragons of old were slavers themselves, kidnapping entire settlements to serve them and viewing every other race except the gods as beneath them. Given that some of the dragon characters we get in the game are supposed to have lived through that era, it certainly casts them in a very different light.

But let's not forget, the Draconis lore isn't even consistent within itself. For example, it claims that young draconis cannot control their transformation well, yet Gwyneth was supposedly able to turn fully human as a newborn baby and keep up her disguise for sixteen years (because yes, despite getting plastic surgery to get massive boobs and ass, she is supposed to be sixteen) and it only started showing because a wyvern (another retcon) suddenly got close to the capital… even though she already killed a wyvern before with no issues popping up. The Draconis lore also claims that many on the dragon isle were around during the Age of Arcana and yet, their enslavement is supposedly a secret so closely guarded that they would lock people up in isolation if they found out about it? Cassius supposedly found out through careful study and it was such a big deal he had to go on a hunger strike before Hildwin appointed him a scribe for the dragon council but in the Dwyneth webcomic, Cassius is already a scribe and Hildwin has to take him to a secret island off the dragon isle and tell him about all the history.

Let's also talk more with Dwyneth. Her story, once again, retcons what we've known about her and what made her so interesting. By making her a part of the king's hunting party who went to look for the wyvern, they got rid of her quick thinking and rather impulsive nature. And let's not forget that this wyvern was now supposedly a part of a whole group of wyverns terrorizing a nearby city? Wyverns and any draconids are supposed to be extremely rare in Esperia for reasons I'll get into later. The original story had the king's party be on a stroll and accidentally waking up the wyvern from its slumber because they didn't even know it was there. Gwyneth's quick thinking and strength gained her the respect of the king and she was subsequently allowed to join the Royal Garrison. That is not even mentioning that Gwyneth was heavily implied to be a child of the robbers Hendrik killed before he adopted her. Her strength was strange, sure, but it never needed an explanation in a world where squirrels can turn people into acorns and undead mermaids float in the sea. And then we get to her actual awakening story…

Listen, if you need to kill an NPC to make your new waifu seem cool, I will already think it's cringe. But if you kill the single most popular NPC your lore community has, one with insane history and all that, it just starts to look like you hate your own content and/or audience. Kane's death makes no sense. He is a battle-hardened warrior with elemental powers (heavily implied to once have been the elemental guardian – we'll talk about how the draconis mess those up later) with a dragon mount (demoted to a wyvern because we can't possibly have an evil dragon now) who has been around since long before the first Hypogean war. Not only is he killed by a sixteen-year-old girl, she also only just got her powers and has supposedly no idea how to use them. And she also bested him in close-quarters combat despite being an archer and Kane being a legendary swordsman. Sadly, this was not the last time a Draconis-related storyline decided to kill off an important NPC with no regard for their lore.

Next we get to Antandra. Once again, the story retcons her entire backstory, events, and personality. It actually makes her more in-line with Journey's Antandra than Arena's which is a whole another can of worms I will not get into right now. Instead of Antandra being the tribute to the temple, she now apparently chose to go and become a temple warrior. After she was banished from the temple, she apparently never saw Satrana again (retconning her union story with Satrana as well as multiple time-limited and permanent events). She is also apparently a mother figure to a lot of children living around where she is staying… which should be the Land of Exiles since she was, you know, exiled and banished. There shouldn't be any children there, it is by far the most dangerous part of the desert. The idea that there's a whole tribe of children who see Antandra as their mother figure just running around is kind of stupid to be honest. Let's also ignore that she is probably the one who gave Dwyneth her new chest because Antandra's went the opposite direction. Let's also compare how previous awakened characters got their powers vs how Antandra did: Thane and Baden went on a huge journey to learn about cooperation and self-sacrifice and took immense risks to protect their loved ones. Safiya nearly died in a game of 5D chess against one of the deadliest enemies in the desert and destroyed an entire clan's kingdom. Antandra? Well, she girlbossed extra hard and Hildwin gave her a gem for it.

Eironn's story is baffling to say the least. Not only is it copy-pasted from Journey's beta where that was pretty much the exact backstory for Bryon (before they decided they don't want a disabled character to be playable) but it doesn't fit Eironn's character. It presents Eironn as someone who chases after glory and thrill of the fight and doesn't care about the people around him. However, Eironn has never been this person. He'd been awkward and struggled to rely on others, yes, but he would never abandon his comrades to chase after a powerful enemy. And of course, he doesn't even get to be cool in his own awakening story, Dwyneth has to swoop in after deciding he was "worthy" and save him at the last minute. At least there aren't any giant retcons to his backstory I guess.

And then there is Thoran and oh boy… So remember when I said Kane wasn't the only NPC who got done super dirty and killed just because the writers could? Same thing happened with Quaedam. Forget the fact that Thoran and all the other graveborn who made a contract with Quaedam are supposed to be like a hivemind that Quaedam can tap into and read at any time. Forget that Quaedam doesn't have a body or anything material and is a spectral entity on a similar power level to the Celestials at this point. Forget also the fact that Quaedam has the Eldritch Council – a whole line-up of similarly powerful necromancers who have been working for him since the Cinder Wars. Forget the fact that Quaedam most likely had enslaved dragons and thus would absolutely be stronger than them. Forget the fact he doesn't have a material base due to his immaterial nature. No, instead, Thoran makes a deal with a dragon behind Quaedam's back, steers the Hypogeans into Quaedam's base, and then strikes him down with a single swing of the sword. Oh, and let's also not forget, the necrodragon isn't supposed to just be out and about. It was a minion of the god of the hunt, Adrax, kept in a pocket dimension of his private hunting grounds.

The other characters who have released since ALucius have been a huge hit or miss but I won't get into each of them individually because that would be way too long (I say like the post already isn't) but to quickly summarize: Raoul is mostly fine aside from the fact where he doesn't look anything like what a character from Esperia would look like. Villanelle retcons Quicksand Claws to make them more stereotypically perpetrators of all evils and sins when they should be a very directly focused mercenary group. Misha's story mentions some "Wilder goddess" who has never existed or, if they mean Dura, was everyone's goddess. Journey, however, does have some Wilder-specific gods (and they suck and break the world further). It also mentions some incursion "decades ago" which… makes no sense? There hasn't been any incursion mere decades ago. Timelines don't timeline with this one. Randle is mostly fine but retcons Niru and how the Whispering Doom (I refuse to call it Doom Spire, stop changing good names, Lilith) works. Aurelia is fine except for the part where her story makes Flora into a lazy bum who doesn't want to do her job. Knox is kinda okay except for the part where his story suggests all Hypogeans are an organized monolith. Most of the Draconis stories are already involved in what I talked about so I will just point out the biggest offender on the list is Lan and no, it is not because she has the vibes of a self-insert Mary Sue. It's because she makes the elemental guardians completely obsolete since dragons can control the elements and direct rain and wind and whatnot.

I've heard from an inside source that pretty much the entire writing department got sacked and the game was handed off to new writers, around the same time it happened with Journey as well, and I have to say, it certainly does feel that way. Between the retcons of huge world lore and warp of pre-existing playable and non-playable characters beyond recognition, it definitely feels like a spiteful rewrite where someone is trying to erase the original and do it "better" except they just end up ruining everything they touch. I'm just frustrated because I invested a lot of time and money into everything AFK-related, bought merch, commissioned art, wrote fanfiction (even won a contest by Lilith with one of my works), started running a DnD campaign set in Esperia, and more. Seeing it all go up in flames like this makes me sad and I just wish things could go back to what it was before. The War of Truth storyline was one of the peaks of AFK's storytelling ever so to follow it up with tis makes it even more jarring. The lore community right now is basically non-existant. Most of my friends left the fandom entirely or only pop in to make fun of how badly the new characters are written. Lilith killed their own lore nerds and it's a damn shame.

But anyway, that's just my rant. If you read everything, thank you a ton, I know this was long and I apologize. Please let me know what you think, if you noticed any more retcons and mistakes, etc. If you don't care about lore, this post is probably not for you so I apologize for wasting your time with it.

[gaytommykinard]

gotta say that i disagree that nobody fights for buck. in s5 taylor said it best: buck's life is full of meaningful relationships, actually. every person of the firefam would fight for and support buck. he is and will never be alone again in his life, especially during the hard times (which they reiterated in 8x05). meanwhile, we see thus being contrasted with tommy not having any kind if support system like that. the same seemed to be the case for taylor. i know people want tommy to fight for this, and i agree that i definitely need him to check his trauma and fears to work this out with buck. but buck is the main character that has had seasons of alleged development. he died and came back, got clarity, was supposed to finally feel good in his own skin, worked out his childhood trauma with his parents in therapy, formed a support system, now discovered he is bisexual and felt free with it. and now tommy is the only one who should grovel? i get the idea but. evan buckley is the character we have seen grow and learn. i want him to put in the work as well. look at how he fought for his job when he thought he would lose it forever. THAT is what i need from him rn. if he is just giving this up with a shrug, then i don't want bucktommy in canon. we have seen tommy taking care of buck and supporting him in all his shenanigans. i need to see that buck is absolutely serious about this and ready to fight for it. if he doesn't, he still hasn't found his true love or still doesn't know what he wants in life. i am bored by this. we have been here multiple times already. do something else with evan buckley finally or just allow him to be a bachelor forever.

okay yes buck has meaningful platonic and familial relationships.

no romantic partner has fought for him. abby ghosted him because of her own issues even though she's a fucking grown ass woman, ali got a reality check and broke up with him when he was in recovery after nearly dying, which okay, fair enough. and while i believe taylor did nothing wrong in reporting the jonah story, the narrative wants us to think she prioritised her work, and she did betray buck's trust which, again, buck wanted to protect his firehouse (which is his family) so he wasn't being objective. reporters exposing scandals within govt orgs that are supposed to protect the public is not a bad thing, actually. the only time he's broken up with someone first is natalia and we were told it's because she was obsessed with his died-and-came-back experience.

and listen. i love tommy more than anything. but buck is still the main character. we're going to see buck going through the breakup, not tommy. we're not going to get much about tommy's past. we're not going to get any scenes with tommy and another character if buck isn't also there. you remember karen going to chimney and them day drinking together because they thought hen was being unfaithful (again)? i wish we could see tommy and chimney talking about their buckleys. but the way the show got rid of all minor characters and consistently treats LIs as nothing more than LIs... i'm not hopeful. we'll get one scene with tommy's Explanation and i'm not even hopeful it's gonna be well written (but i'm sure lou will be serving. god. they wrote such a shitty break up scene and he fucking ATE.)

yeah, buck fucked up by jumping the gun and asking tommy to move in with him when he couldn't even say the i love you, and i hope this will be addressed in future eps. but tommy immediately ended the relationship because he Knows Better and left buck heartbroken. this is what happened on the show. the average viewer isn't doing ten layers of analysis to understand tommy's perspective, nor should they have to. i love the metas, i'm digging into tommy's headspace in my next fix it fic, but this is still the dumb weewoo show.

i don't think tommy needs to grovel, i don't think he's the Bad Guy in this story, i have a lot of empathy for tommy and so does the GA! they're not mad at tommy, they want him back! they want bucktommy back! and i want them both to fight for each other, to apologise and admit to their fuck ups and admit how much they care about each other and that they want to be each other's forever love! i want them to say i love you!

but buck is still the protagonist in this story and i don't want to see him running back to someone who broke up with him in such a way that had him asking "wait, did you just break up with me?" because again, this is what happened on our screens. i want tommy making the first move, opening the door for reconciliation, showing that he knows he made a mistake out of fear from his past trauma, for buck to then know he is wanted, that tommy came back for him, and then put in the effort to fight for them.

hope this makes sense. and as always, for people reading this - this is not the space for you to bash on buck's previous LIs, please take it elsewhere.

[teabeexo]

𝚃𝚎𝚊'𝚜 𝙼𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: 𝚃𝚊𝚋𝚋𝚢

✿ ↳ ❝ You need to go,

to where the dark remembers you

Open up your heart

Like the gates of Hell

You stay soft, you get beaten

Only natural to harden up... ❞

✧˚ · . - "Stay Soft" Mitski

𝚃𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚊 𝙻𝚢𝚗𝚗 𝚆𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚘𝚛

✿ The Basics ✿

Age(s): Step 1 - 10, Step 2 - 14, Step 3 - 18, Step 4 - 22

Birthday: April 3rd

Gender: Demigirl (she/they)

Ethnicity: Hawaiian and Swedish

Height: 5'4" (as of step 4)

Significant Other: Qiu Lin

Role: Main character in my OL:NF universe.

✿ Lore (past) ✿

Tabitha Windsor was born in Orono, Maine on April 3rd. Her mother, Opal Windsor, had Tabitha through artificial semination. Growing up, her household only consisted of her and her mother. Though considered unorthodox by many of the locals in her town, Tabitha was perfectly happy with the serenity and closeness that was garnered as a result of her upbringing.

The Windsors were not particularly wealthy during Tabitha’s childhood. Though most of her early memories originate from Orono, the Windsors moved around quite frequently in order to keep up with her mother’s job. Despite the fact that Opal would do her best to relieve Tabitha of any sort of stress or worry in relation to their finances, Tabby would internalize a lot of the anxiety that she perceived Opal was feeling. In response, she developed a complex where she often viewed herself as being her family's caretaker and protector.

Their norm changed when Tabitha, who preferred the nickname Tabby at this point, and her mother moved across-state to Golden Grove, Oregon. This bode well for the Windsors, seeing as they’d moved for a huge promotion in Opal’s work. Practically, the move was fantastic for them. They’d never been so comfortable! Internally, though, Tabby was struggling.

Tabby was in full self-preservation mode and would shut down around anyone except her mom. Trust is the fundamental aspect that Tabby needs to even have the bare bones of a relationship. Naturally, she didn't have that with anybody when she first moved. Everyone was a stranger. Thus, nobody warranted her trust or friendliness.

This pattern was disrupted when she met a certain kid, who just happened to double as her neighbor. Qiu Lin. It was odd. He was odd to her -- in the best way. Regardless of how cold or snappish she was, his attitude towards her remained the same. And, somehow, she seemed to intrinsically trust him because of his overtly accommodating nature. Here, a fixation with him starts.

Her first interactions with her other neighbor, Tamarack, start off rather iffy. Tabby immediately closes Tamarack off because she sees Tam as unpredictable and erratic (exactly what Tabby loathes). Tabby could tolerate her, but never tried to approach the bubbly ginger as a friend. Over time, though, they slowly develop a positive relationship. As aforementioned, it's all about building trust for her.

Unfortunately, all the positive rapport made seems to regress as she approaches adolescence. Her crush on Qiu develops into a more severe fixation. In a sense, they become like the crux of her life. She bases her worth around their approval of her -- and actively changes herself to fit the mold that she assumes they would like. It's very self-destructive for her esteem. She's not very liked among her peers in highschool because she is seen as unapproachable and harsh. That’s mostly due to her chronic resting-bitch-face. She's actually extremely patient and compassionate when approached, but most don't bother breaching that barrier.

Her mom eventually intervenes whenever she realizes that Tabby's feelings towards Qiu need to be addressed and worked through. And, eventually, it does get better! It just takes her a while. By the time she’s nearly fifteen, she actually has a heart-to-heart with Qiu about it. They both agree they have feelings for each other, but make the active choice not to date because they both have issues they want to sort out first.

Tamarack and Tabby's relationship, in turn, deteriorates because their older personalities begin to grate against each other. Tamarack's serene and bashful nature strongly contrasts Tabby's. Tamarack's personality entirely changing undoes a lot of the trust they'd established, since Tabby views Tamarack as an entirely different person.

By the time Tabby turns eighteen, she starts publicly using she/they (with no preference). Her and Qiu also start dating slightly after they both turn eighteen. Tabby starts volunteering a local animal shelter which is really good for her mental health!

Her and Opal are still extremely close, but they've mellowed out quite a bit and take a step back from her protective tendencies.

Them and Tamarack are able to establish strong communication once again, and can eventually overcome to the awkwardness that tainted their relationship. Really, it just required effort on both of their parts. They’re able to be good friends, but never become best friends, as Tamarack would have liked when they were children.

Everything is likely to change as more OL:NF content becomes available. But for now, this is the overview of Tabby!

✿ Lore (present/ongoing) ✿

N/A until Step Four comes out/we get more info!

✿ Relationships ✿

Parents: Opal Windsor and unnamed sperm donor

Siblings: N/A.

Aunts: Currently N/A.

Cousins: Currently N/A.

S/O: Qiu Lin

Notable Friends: Tamarack Baumann, Diana (my OC), Renee Murray, Jade Foljn, Mina Linwood (my OC)

(*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)���*.ﾟ

𝙰𝚛𝚝 𝙲𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚎

Tabby’s S1 and S3 designs. (Art done by me)

(Art below by @humanlypotsand)

✿ Epilogue (Artist/Author's notes) ✿

Hello everyone! Thanks for bearing with me while I finally decided what/who my Qiu!MC was going to be! It was definitely a wild ride, and in total I cycled through two whole characters before deciding on Tabby.

Tabby herself has turned out to be a character that I really enjoy writing and drawing. I like the themes that I chose to explore in her lore, and I find myself relating to them in a lot of small ways.

I didn’t overtly talk about it above, but Tabby’s whole motif is cats/felines — hence the nickname Tabby! In S2 she even hides a litter of kittens in Qiu’s fort. And, of course, she later dedicates their life to the care of animals.

Thanks for reading this far!

Also thank you to @lov3-from-loserlane and @humanlypotsand for letting me yap about them!!

𝙴𝚡𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚜

Spotify playlist: coming soon! (wip)

Moodboard: coming soon! (as soon as I figure out how to make one)

Pinterest Board: coming soon! (wip)

[letskittythis]

Hi there, friends!

Sorry I took so long, but you know, life loves to get busy all of a sudden. Trully, Murphy's Law at it's best. Still... I hope I can make it up to you with this little post...

I want to introduce my favourite Sim to you guys.

My angel, my demon, my everything. I introduce to you… Blair Watters.

Blair: Hiiiiiii, guys! I'm so glad to FINALLY meet you all! Seriously, she's been postponing this introduction since the VEEEERY beginning!

Luna: Oh, dear... Try not to scare them away with all that energy, babydoll.

Blair: What? No way! I don't scare people off! That's Wolfie's job, not mine!

Luna: Well, if we are to be honest here… You're actually right. Wolf's usually the bad boy when it comes to your relationship, uh… Can't be helped, with that moody butt of his…

Blair: I know, right? He's almost always sporting a sour expression… It doesn't suit him at all, I very much prefer his smile, it's so cute. And, get this… He has such cute… DIMPLES! AHHAHA

Luna: Eheee, my gosh. He's too cute... Wait, don't try to get us side-tracked! We're here so our friends can get to know YOU, cutiepie!

Blair: Ooops, sorry. I just love him so much...

Luna: I know, darling, and you'll have time to rave about him later on. Maybe we can have you both here at the same time for that. We might get lucky and see Wolfgang all flustered, eheheh… But for now… Why don't you tell our friends a bit about yourself?

Blair: Sure thing! Sooo, My full name is Blair Yuri Mizune Watters. My pronouns are They/Them. I was assigned as Male at birth, but I actually am Intersex . Though, depending on the story Luna has drafted up, I might be more feminine or more masculine. In a few, Lu even made me fully female! I must say, I was stunned, but since Wolfie dropped his jaw to the floor and fell heads over heels for me anyway, I won't complain. Also depending one the story this crazy person whips up, my age can range anywhere from 16 to 30. I believe on her main save I'm near my 31st birthday?

Luna: That's correct, yes.

Blair: But here, in this particular one where we're recording this, I'm 15, my 16th birthday will be this Halloween, exactly five minutes before midnight, yay! Makes for some real fun parties, you can bet!

Luna: Eh, yeah, I always had that in mind when I first felt you coming to me, you know? My country doesn't exactly celebrate Halloween, but it still is a very important day to me. What about your parents?

Blair: Oh, you know it better than me. I'm an orphan, my parents passed away in an accident when I was five. I still have both sets of grandparents, but… Let's say neither side is happy about my choice of a partner… Eh, old and phobic people. Sad, but nothing I can do about it, really. I love whom I love, and that's my darling Wolfgang Munch! Aww, he's just soooooo cute when he wants to! Like, that one time when he…

Luna: Blair, focus, love.

Blair: Ooops, again... Sorry. We were talking about my heritage, so... My dad was native of Chestnut Ridge and my mom was from an influential old family of Mount Komorebi. According to my grandpas, dad was a Marine Biologist and mom was a Grade School Teacher, specialised in Special Needs Children. I was born in Sulani, at their seaside little home. I do remember quite a bit of it. I speak a bit of Toki Sulani and am fluent in Simlish and Komorebigo. Now, for my traits... I LOOOOOOVE music, and am super cheerful as you can easily tell, teehee. At least, here. I heard there's one me whom is not cheerful at all!

Luna: Again, correct, but I don't think I'll be sharing that particular story. At least not anytime soon.

Blair: Well, yeah, I don't think you have any particular objective there, so I get it. Still, why making me all gloomy and doomy...

Luna: Why not? Also, Wolfie there still loves your gloomy and doomy self.

Blair: Of course he does, duh! He's forever my one and only destined mate! No way I'm letting anybody else snatch him!

Luna: Ow, chill, panther. Nobody's gonna snatch Wolf from you, promise. If he's not your mate in a story, he'll at the very least be your BFF.

Blair: WHAT!

Luna: Yeah, in one of the stories I am currently working on, the one I gave our friends a sneak-peek of, Wolf won't get to meet you at all, sorry. I just couldn't find a way to slip you into it without making it super weird.

Blair: Oh. My. Gosh. You can't?! That... REALLY hurts my feelings!

Luna: Sorry, love. I tried, I really did, it just doesn't suit the story, at least not up to the point I've written it. Maybe I can add you somehow in the future. Not as Wolfie's mate, unfortunately, but maybe some way else. I have an idea, but don't wanna give spoilers, so…

Blair: Uffff... Fine. Uh... Guys... In case you're wondering... Yes, Luna's this loving and all hugs in real life... As long as you don't squish her tiny 150cm, she won't go murderous cat mode on you.

Luna: Oi! Blair, you little...!

Blair: Eeeeee! Love you, too, gal. And please, get me new CC nails. I'm getting tired of always wearing the same.

Luna: Oh, uh, sure, I'll keep an eye out for cute ones, as I failed miserably at making some... Guess I'll just try again when I am less exhausted. Oh, yeah, and Cuupid has a cute new set in early access right now, I'll be sure to get it as soon as I can, I bet you'll be a stunner on it.

Blair: Ohhh, yes, Softer Set? I can't wait to try it on, either! Thank you, guys for your amazing work! There's no way I'd have half this much fun teasing Wolfie if it wasn't for your work! Oh, yeah, any special requests, Lu? I still have a bit of time before my lunch date with Wolf.

Luna: Oh, sure. Why don't you tell us which is your favourite CC shop?

Blair: Uh, I think it is obvious. @yin-shimo's of course! I know he mostly does conversions, but they're soooo dang cute! Plus, Abel is such a snack and Meri is so freaking adorable! But I also LOOOOVE @1-800-cuupid, @smsims-evekleos, Myobi, @evellsims, LonelyGraves, @saruin and soooo many more. I mean, I wear a gorgeous mix by many creators, both active and retired... So, yeah, hard pick, but I mostly shop at Tianshi's! I know. Let me show off my daily wear!

Luna: Uh, sure, if you have the time and don't mind. But...

Blair: Worry not, I won't lose to anyone in cuteness! So... Here we go... Infinity Nikky Style! Wooo!

Luna: Wait what...?

Blair: This current one is my fav! It's sexy and comfy, plus makes it easier to sneak off with Wolfie, and... Ya know. We ain't saints.

Luna: Oh my gosh. Blair?!

Blair: Thiiis one I picked to impress madam Munch. Mother in law seemed positively speechless, even fainted from the trill! Ain't it cute? My gosh, I feel like a bajillion simoleons in this outfit, I should really wear it more often!

Luna: My god, Blair, ahahah!

Blair: While Luna gets closer to death by laughing, a perfectly sane way to kill an asthmatic, mind you, on to my other outfit... The one I worn for my first date with Wolfie. Boy, did he seem conflicted... Only problem of it, apparently, is to perfectly show off my GOOOOORGEOUS butt. Wolfie can't keep his hands to himself whenever I show up in front of him with this outfit, teehee~!

Luna: Ay, Blair, you'll be the death of me!

Blair: Next, it's Luna's favourite! Wolfie also loves it, of course! This dress.. Oh, I love it. It was quite a find, Lu! Get me more like it!

Luna: Anything to see you happy, babydoll! But please... No more sillies...! I'll die for real!

Blair: Alriiight. Well, This is the last one. My outfit for blue days. And for discreet outings with my Wolfie. Like, today's lunch, we wanna be as discreet as possible, since those vultures from The Church of the Watcher somehow seem to ALWAYS be flitting about that restaurant...

Luna: Oowww, my lungs... Blair, dearie, sit, please. I got one more question.

Blair: Okay! What is it?

Luna: Which kind of story do you hope THIS one will be like?

Blair: Well... Honestly, I don't know, but I sure hope I'll get to have all kinds of fun and romantic outings with Wolfie! Also, please do allow me time to play with Lucas! He's such a sweetie, and you hardly remember to let me enjoy his company!

Luna: True enough, and I do plan to allocate more time for you to get to know your youngest brother-in-law better, I believe you two will get along really well.

Blair: Also, don't forget to post this on Tumblr, you scatter-brained horni pan! Spend less time drooling over MY mate and more time writing the stories and taking the screenshots to illustrate them!

Luna: Ehhh, sorry about that. You're not even mentioning I spend just as long drooling over YOU, but... Really, you're right, I better be more diligent...

Blair: Yup! Oh, I gotta go now, so… Bye-bye, and please, be patient with her. Also, she doesn't mind any pronouns you wanna use! Just be yourselves, loves! See you next time!

Luna: Bye, guys. Sorry if it wasn't what you expected, but I hope you still enjoyed yourselves. I'll try drag Wolfgang here for an interview sometime soon! Oh, and if you have more questions, feel free to leave them in the comments, I'll answer them to the best of my ability. Until next time!

[oshinohoshi]

Oshi no Ko Ch 160 thoughts

I think I'll start this out with a jump scare.

Imagine this guy showing up at your door trying to sell you a nice new set of kitchen knives. I'd take ten.

The above image is so ghoulish that I'd be tempted to see it as just Aqua's distorted perception of his father, not a mask off moment where Hikaru morphed into Slenderman

But I have no confidence that this chapter didn't just toss Hikaru's character development in the bin

A well-executed twist following a twist should be satisfying but rather than getting a nice "aha" moment, I'm just getting whiplash

Even though I don't like it, I guess I can buy a heartbroken and jaded Hikaru who subtly manipulated Ryosuke into becoming more unhinged and later influenced Nino to do his dirty work

Although I don't think Ryosuke needed any help being a dumpster fire of a human and Nino really has nobody to blame but herself

But then what were chapters 154 and 155 about?

The mess that was HkAi is so compelling to me. I find their relationship sweet and tragic. It was a disaster that could have become something lovely if they weren't such fragile people already deeply wounded at a young age

In order for Hikaru's realization that Ai loved him to be as impactful as it is, then "I'm going to do what I can for Ai" can't be a lie

Which means he can't have wanted to hurt Ruby after watching the DVD

Which means that we're gonna keep spinning in circles about Hikaru's culpability and motives until Akasaka lets us off this ride

We've gone from "Aqua delivered a revenge worse than death to an already self-destructive man" to "oh, I guess that meant nothing. Time to have a knife fight"

And then there's the below panel. The worst thing Hikaru said about Ai was that she was a normal girl who could be cruel. Now she's standing next to a very accusatory speech bubble

"Make people obey you?" Hikaru wouldn't think that of Ai post 154

I wouldn't be surprised if he's just winding Aqua up because he has a death wish, but I think that's just me trying to cope

I've been waiting a very long time for "you're just like me" from Hikaru to Aqua but it would have been more effective if the panels supposedly showing Aqua's power to charm didn't seem to have been chosen at random

Can I just say, this panel makes me uncomfortable:

It's hard to think of Ruby wholeheartedly singing love songs to sweaty 20-something men, and the way Ai and B Komachi started doing so when they were just children, and not feel weird

OnK does a wonderful job portraying the good things about idol fandom alongside the heinously toxic things, but it's so heavily weighted on the good side with Ruby that it sometimes makes me think Ai's death at the hands of an obsessive idol otaku who believed she couldn't be a real person because she sang love songs to her fans was a fever dream

And I know this is Aqua's image of Ruby, but it just seems like we're completely ignoring the arc where she went into full on manipulation mode (like father like daughter, I guess)

Anyway, the standout moments of this chapter were that Ai drew a heart on her toothbrush and the below panel. The little Hoshino family melts my ugly, deceptive heart

Christ. I haven't even mentioned Aqua's big ass knife

Aqua won't stab anyone. Just maybe do some light slashing

There is a blatant retcon about Nino and Ryosuke at the hospital because Crow Girl said there was a middle school aged boy there. The only ways this could not be a retcon is if Hikaru lied, Crow Girl lied, or crows really can't see well at night

Next chapter: Hikaru lets Aqua stab him but it bounces off because Nino, who wanted to protect her buddy, secretly made his suit knife proof. Ai's toothbrush turns out to be pivotal to the plot because if only she had used an electric toothbrush as dentists recommend, none of this would have happened.

[emilythedog661-tf2]

My TF2 Morden AU

Here is another instalment of my TF2 Alternate Universes, todays AU is about if the mercenaries lived in the 21st century in todays society, info is under the cut snd i hope you like it 😋

First we have the Mercenaries who aren't Mercenaries -

Scout - Scout who is named Jeremy Fast was born in 1996 making his 28 and he is a high school PE teacher for the boys, he is a good PE teacher but he been in trouble with the school a few times after parents complain that he's been flirting with the high school girl all between 13 - 16, he grew up with his single mom and his 8 half brothers and he is the youngest of the brothers, he's not sure who his dad was when he was younger but then he found out when he was 18 from his mom that his dad was a guy from france who met Jeremy's mom at the bar she works at while on a buisness trip, they then hit it off, had a one night stand then scout's mom had Jeremy, Jeremy's dad then disappeared after Jeremy was born but he still kept in contact with Jeremy's mom for child support, the only issue Jeremy has is that he can't seem to get a girlfriend, he went though dating apps, went out public areas like bars and concerts and even ask woman if they were single but nothing worked making him feel depressed that he can't get anyone to love him, another issue is that he has ADHD so he struggles to socialise full time and gets easily distracted, lastly, he's uses TikTok a lot to make random videos and he is a little popular on the platform but still can't get a girl to like him.

Soldier - Soldier who is named John Dow was born in 1979 making him 45 years old, he is a ex-military man who got let go from the military after being mentally unstable to be in the military, he found out from the military after being in it for 15 years that he has undiagnosed asperger's which was the reason the military had to let him go, John didn't want to be let go as he was used to being in the military for so long and he had nobody to go to as he was a orphan since he was 2 but he now on his own for a while with a single apartment that he bought with his veteran pension, he was also accepted to have a service dog for his asperger's and he ends up having a yorkshire terrier named Squibbs (This is based on my late yorkie with the same name and i just think it's funny seeing Soldier having a small dog like a yorkie as a service dog), the apartment he lives in also introduced him to his opposite neighbour named Dell and John is now having a sexual crisis as he has romantic feeling for Dell.

Pyro - Pyro who forgot his name was a firefighter but then he got into a accident where his body got completely burnt, he also gained severe memory loss after banging his head on a falling wooden board trying to get out the fire and now he stays in a care home as he started to act childish and unstable, he is not dangerous or unpredictable, he is just a lost and severely burnt human with mental issues that the doctor and nurses are trying their best to help him, he loves to draw, make balloon animals, is easily entertained and he has a big imagination but he can't seem to get his old memories back as he can't remember anything or anyone from his past life.

Demoman - Demoman who is named Travish Degroot was born in 1989 making him 35 years old, he is a workaholic who works many different jobs in his birth country of scotland and he is very well known in his hometown form all the jobs he has, his mother use to be a workaholic like Travish until she retired at 65, Travish's family now has loads of money that demoman got from all the jobs he done and he with his mother now have a nice house together, the jobs the Travish have is a cashier, a waiter, a carer for animals at shelters and rescues, a computer tech, a cameraman for some tv shows, a boom mic operator and other things, Travish is happy with his life and he doesn't seem to want to stop doing jobs.

Heavy - Heavy who is named Mikhail or Misha for short was born in 1968 making him 56 years old and is popular wrestler in russia, he has multiple awards and is a celebrity in russia, the reason he became a wrestler was to help his single mother and 3 sisters as they grew up poor and their dad died a few months after the youngest sister was born, Misha's baby sisters are now 34, 32 and 30 and they are happily living their lives thanks to Misha supporting them when they left home, the 3 sisters are now living happily with their husband with their kids and Misha loves his nieces and nephews like they were his kids, Misha is now living happily still being a celebrity and he also has a girlfriend named sylvia, the pair have been dating for 5 years now and they act like a married couple even if they aren't married yet.

Engineer - Engie who is named Dell Conagher was born in 1980 making him 44 years old and he was born in beehive, texas, he was raised by both his dad and grandad with no mother as she left after giving birth to Dell and his grandmother died of cancer a year before Dell was born so he had no mother figure, both Dell's dad and grandad did a good job raising Dell and he helped around his dad and grandad's family buisness which was a mechanical buisness, the buisness helped fix cars, machines and recently as of 2010, technology too, Dell learn everything about mechanics getting a few PhDs for it and when he turned 18, he moved out of texas saying bye to his dad as he grandad sadly died when he was 13 and he started a mechanical buisness in america, he was doing well with his buisness and he had help fixed loads of things over the years but he decided to keep living in a apartment when he has enough to buy a house, he then met his new neighbour, John and the pair hit it off really well with even Dell adoring John's Service Yorkie, after a while though, Dell realised that he was starting to get feeling for John and he was having sexual crisis as he didn't even know he was gay until he met John, sure he didn't have a girlfriend but he just thought he was too busy to think about having one but now he was have gay thought about John and he didn't know what to do with them.

Medic - Medic who is named Wilhelm Ludwig or Will for short was born in 1984 making him 40 years old and he was born in stuttgart, germany, Wilhelm was raised by doctor parents so Will wanted to be one too but he ended up becoming a pathologist instead, Will was very good at his job with examining the dead body and finding out the cause of death to the body during investigation for detectives and the police, he was so good at his pathologist job that he was called a pathologist sherlock as he would always get it right, he was soon hired by investigators in different countries to help them with examining dead bodies and he ended up helping to solve many cases, one of these trips he went to was australia and during a day off before going back to germany, he ends up meeting a animal photographer named Mike, the pair hit off talking about animals mainly birds and they decided to keep in contact with each other, the pair soon met up often with Will visiting Mike in australia and soon, the pair started to get romantic feelings for each other, Mike would also sometime go to germany to visit Will and the pair went to places where Will knew Mike would like.

Sniper - Sniper who is named Mike Mundy was born in 1994 making him 30 years old and he born to his bio parents in new zealand but then dumped Mike off at a orphanage when he was 6 months old, he was then soon adopted by his adopted parents when he was 12 months old and his new parents were elderly parents both being in their early 40s, Mike adored his adopted mother becoming a mama's bot but he has a love-hate relationship with his dad as his dad was grumpy, always wanted to argue and never showed affection but still loved Mike as a son in his own way, Mike growing up was always picked on by the other boys for being skinny and having elderly parents but he ended up being quite handsome when he got to his teen years, he soon moved out when he was 20 and lived in a small apartment a few mintues druve away from his parents, he got a job as a photographer for special occasions like weddings, baby showers, birthdays and other things and he ended up getting a lot of money for it, he then became a animal photographer from magazines and the pictures became popular making him more money, he did ask his parents if he could use some of his money to fix up the home but his dad rejected the offer saying the house was fine so Mike put half of his money to the side for his future while using the rest to buy a RV, he then sold his apartment and then traveled around australia to take pictures of animals and irs how he met Wilhelm, Mike liked Wilhelm as they both have a big love of bird and he never had anyone who shared his interests before so he was happy to have a friend, he soon realised though that he was getting feelings for Will and he hoped Will liked him back.

Spy - Spy who is named Jacque Voclain was born in 1976 making him 48 years old and he was born in france, Jacque is a very busy businessman and he works for a very popular french company, he's worked at the company for years going from a rookie to the CEO of the company, he has also traveled around a lot and it's how he met Jeremy's mom and accidentally had Jeremy with her, Jacque payed Child support to Jeremy's mom until Jeremy was 18 and he doesn't hear for Jeremy himself but his mom fills Jacque in on what he's done and what he's been doing over the almost 3 decades Jeremy being around, Jacque had never really met anyone else after Jeremy's mom and he did try to find someone similar to her but it never worked, Jacque hopes to meet up with Jeremy's mom again as he still loved her after all of these years but he wished she didn't have all those kids with different men.

That's all for now and i'll add more if i think of anything else, see you all next time! 😋

[cressidagrey]

Glorious Sunrise - Chapter 8

Summary:

So what happens after the mating bond snaps?

Well-meaning interfering family members, deep conversations and nights spent brooding on the roof like some kind of gargoyle…this one has it all.

Warnings:

Definetly NSFW

(thanks to @cafekitsune for the super pretty dividers!)

There was a knock on the door of the stillroom. 

Huh. 

“Come in,” she said, carefully corking the potions she had just finished, labelling them. It was busy work, but she was waiting for the Cold Cure to finish simmering, which would take until this evening. 

There was something inherently peaceful in the stillroom for her, her own little Kingdom to rule over, with her own rules…and no other persons anywhere near her. 

The last person she had expected to walk into her stillroom…was the High Lord of the Night Court. 

“Rhysand,” she greeted him, surprise obvious in her voice.

“Rhys. My family calls me Rhys,” he corrected her, a small smile on his handsome features. 

“What brings you here?” she asked him curiously. “If you are searching for Azriel, I have no clue where he is,” she said drily, making him laugh. 

“No, I am not searching for my wayward spymaster. Though I suppose I could just wait here and he would eventually show up for you,” he said, amusement glittering in his gaze. “I…have a question, I suppose.  Will you be able to replicate it?”

He didn’t need to clarify what he meant, she knew, and still he did. 

“You gave Emerie her wings back. Could you…do the same for more females just like her?” he asked her and Galena sat down carefully on her chair, fingertips tracing the table. 

“I don’t know,” she admitted honestly. “The fact that her father did a really shoddy job at it made it easier for me. If he had done a better job…I would be able to soothe the tremors…maybe help the pain. I don’t know if it would work for everyone,” she said. 

“But would you try?” Rhys pushed. 

Try. Go to one of the warcamps in Illyria that Azriel never talked about…and try. She reached out for her notebook, where she had written down, everything she had done to Emerie…duplicating the pages with a wave of her hand and held it out for Rhys to take. 

“You could try,” she said calmly. 

He took it, glanced at it, then did a double-take." You wrote it down,” he realised and she shrugged. 

“I tend to write everything down. All my own research. However, I don’t put it in the library anywhere. The last time I tried, I had a disagreement with a scholar there,” she admitted. 

Disagreement was such a nice word for what happened. 

Anyway, she didn’t care enough to put her name on any of the procedures she had “invented” if it meant that she needed to deal with the snobby scholars who looked down their nose at her and harrumphed like they thought her scars had anything to do with how her brain worked. 

Her skin may be scarred, but her mind was as sharp as it always had been.

“Do not give this to one of the Illyrians that do the clippings. Or they change how they do it and I don’t know if it would work then,” she warned him seriously. 

“They aren’t healers to you, are they?” Rhys asked her, flipping through the pages filled with her handwriting. 

No, they weren’t. 

“I made an oath to the mother when I became a healer. To do no harm. To help,” Galena said evenly. “They didn’t just break that oath. They disgrace our profession. My profession. So no. They aren’t healers to me. They are bungling idiots that should never be allowed near any other person at all.” She could seethe about it, but that wouldn’t help her. 

“I would be willing to teach somebody what to do. Maybe Zoreen would be willing to go to Illyria,” she said calmly. “They could try if it works on somebody other than Emerie.”

“You wouldn’t be willing to go?” Rhys wondered. “You were the one who figured it out.”

She stared at him for a moment, facing him, so that he could see the full brunt of her scars. 

“You mean, leave the peace I have here?” Galena asked him. “Where nobody stares at me? Where nobody makes any comments to me about my scars? For what? The glory of knowing that I was the one who figured out the way in the first place?”

He inclined his head, still mustering her. But it wasn’t the outright stares she drew if she walked outside…or the pitiful looks even her aunt sometimes had if the scars were looking particularly gruesome. It was just…just how two people would look at each other when they had a conversation. 

“Is it really that peaceful with that male outside?” he asked her suddenly. 

“Did Silas say something? He’s pretty much terrified of Azriel,” Galena said with a grin. “Very helpful. Hasn’t made one of his usual comments in weeks.”

She would gladly hide behind people being terrified of Azriel, if that meant that they left her in peace. 

“What are his usual comments?” Rhys wondered, his voice too absent-minded to be truly that. 

“Mostly shock that I am leaving the house,” Galena answered. For one moment she opened her mouth, planning to ask him if there was anything else she could do for him. 

“Have you had lunch?” he asked her idly and she just stared at him. 

“No.”

“Let me take you,” he told her and she just stared at him. 

“You want to take me to lunch,” she repeated, unbelievingly. What? 

“Yes,” he agreed. “I am meeting Mor…she did mention that she owes you an apology… And don’t worry, people will stare at me, not you.” 

She blinked. 

It was probably true that they would rather stare at the High Lord and not at her, but still. 

“The difference is just that they look at you in awe and they stare at me like I am some sort of monster,” she quipped back.

“I’ll be sure to take you along when I visit another court and we can compare notes,” Rhys told her seriously. “I spent 50 years being a monster.  And if I know one thing, then that you aren’t even close to classifying as one. And you shouldn’t let anybody tell you differently…or let anybody make you hate your own face because they don’t know what it means to live through the pain you have survived.”

She had no idea what to say to that. 

“Give it a chance,” he told her imploringly. 

A chance .  

“I have given it a chance for 150 years, every week when I go and buy vegetables at the market,” she said, her voice shaking. 

“Then give it another. Just for today,” Rhys asked her. “ Please .”

“Fine.”

What was one more experience of that?

What was one more time of being stared at, and pointed at and…But to her neverending surprise…none of that happened. 

Maybe it was the fact that they winnowed right in front of that restaurant or that they got a table tucked into one corner…but for once…she could sit in a restaurant…and nobody cared. Nobody even gave her a second glance.

The Restaurant was definitely not what she had thought a High Lord would frequent either, but…Galena was just going to roll with weirdness now. The Restaurant was barely big enough to fit a dozen people, decked out in greens and golds…a small building near the Sidra. 

“Chances are Mor is going to give you an absolutely horrible gift as a thank you for fixing Emerie’s wings,” Rhys told her conversational and she couldn’t help but snort. 

“How horrible are we talking?” she asked curiously. 

“Mor is notorious for her lack of gift-giving abilities. She gave Azriel a set of bright blue embroidered towels with his initials one year. Cassian has received silk shirts in all the colours of the rainbow.”

“I could use some embroidered towels,” Galena responded with a shrug. 

“Too bad, I got you something else,” came Mor’s bright voice behind Rhys, and she looked up to find the blonde female, standing there with a shy smile on her face. “And I also owe you an apology.”

“You were worried about your…about Emerie,” Galena easily smoothed over. She still didn’t know what exactly Mor and Emerie were, but she didn’t want to speculate either. “I understand that. You haven’t been the first…relative or loved one that reacted similarly. I understand that it’s startling to hear that I use another fae as an experiment of sorts. Even when it’s done to help them.”

“Yes, but I did see what you could do when you healed Azriel. You do experiments maybe, but you were never… cold-hearted and callous about them,” Mor said with a sigh. “I was just…I was just so worried and I let that bleed into anger, and it wasn’t right how I talked to you…I was pretty sure Az was going to rip off my head halfway through.”

“He wouldn’t have done that,” Galena said calmly. He wouldn’t have. He maybe would have gotten angry, but that one singular “ Morrigan ” had said it all. Fury and anger maybe, but tightly leashed. 

“He’s…very protective of you,” Mor said, with a smile. “It’s good that he…got you now. You settle him. He has needed that for years. And you give him focus too. Something I never could.”

I never could. 

Had there been something between Azriel and Mor? Something that he had never told her about? 

It niggled in the back of her brain, throughout that dinner, and through unwrapping a stack of romance novels (courtesy of Emerie) and a Mor’s idea of a gift…which didn’t end up being absolutely horrible. Actually, the model of a skeleton with a comically oversized skull was quite amusing to her. 

“Thank you,” she thanked Rhys as he brought her back to the apothecary and he smiled at her. 

“Don’t thank me. You should be able to do that every day if you wanted to,” he told her. 

She didn’t know if she wanted that…but….maybe….maybe sometimes…if she knew that people wouldn’t star at her…maybe then she would enjoy leaving the apothecary. 

Not always…but sometimes? Maybe? 

And then…then all her good mood got destroyed by Silas. 

“Wow, you really get around,” he drawled as she entered the apothecary and she froze. 

“What?” she spat out. 

“Don’t really get why any of them would give you the time of the day when I am sure there would be hundreds of faeries that don’t look like you do, but I imagine you must have other…skills,” he said with a shrug, leaning against the counter. “Though does your oversized bat know that you are whoring yourself out to the High Lord?”

She didn’t even have the words to describe what she was feeling. That icy rage that gripped her…that…fury. 

But suddenly it was there. Suddenly every quip he had made on her cot was there, at the forefront of her mind…every time he had snorted about her leaving the stillroom…every time he didn’t think that she should leave the house…and all of it was a eighty cocktail of utter anger that enveloped her. 

She didn’t often get loud. Nearly never. 

Galena had always been soft-spoken. She preferred it that way. 

She didn’t want to scream, to shout…to let emotion overcome her…she had over a century of training for that. 

But now…now…now it was over. 

“Out,” she seethed. “Out, right now. You are going to leave now. You are never going to come back. And you are not going to bother me or anybody else again!”

“You can’t do that,” Silas said with a roll of his eyes, nearly bored sounding.  

“She can,” her aunt’s voice suddenly came from the stairway. “I don’t know what I have done to give you the impression that that you can talk to my daughter like that, but it ends now. If Galena said you are done, then you are done. So go .”

She didn’t even look Silas way when he left the apothecary, couldn’t bear it…not now. Not right now. Not

“Shhhh,” Madja was there suddenly, enveloping her in her arms and Galena breathed in the scent of spearmint and snow that clung to her. Safe. Home. 

Still, she clung to her aunt, as the tears ran over her cheeks and she couldn’t help the sobs that broke out of her chest. 

She wasn’t even sure what it was. 

Maybe because…maybe because this wasn’t what she usually got to hear…Normally it were comments about her scars, the way she looked…some doubting her intelligence, thinking that her brain had been destroyed as well as her beauty and clearly she was good for nothing anymore. 

But…but there had never been somebody calling her a whore. 

That was new. 

The tears that tracked over her cheeks were fat and hot, even as Madja shushed her…even when her aunt helped her upstairs and ended up bundling her into her bed…she couldn’t stop the tears. 

It had been a good day. One day when nobody had stared at her. One day where she had gone out and been normal and then it had been utterly destroyed by that prick and she couldn’t…She couldn’t…

Madja plied her with potions and Galena took them without protest.  

It was something. 

It calmed down the half-hysterical feelings making themselves a home in her chest…leaving her tired and numb. 

Madja sat down on the side of her bed, gently tucking her hair behind her ears and she weakly stared at the ceiling, not even really aware of her surroundings. 

“He doesn’t deserve your tears,” Madja said quietly. “Why didn’t you tell me before that he…he behaved like that around you?”

“He didn’t,” she whispered. “Normally he just wondered if I left the apothecary…like I shouldn’t do that…Or he made some comments about scaring the people on the street. But he never…he never said anything like that…”

“And he shouldn’t have,” Madja told her evenly, taking her hand in both of hers. 

“We don’t have anybody to man the till now,” Galena protested weakly. “I shouldn’t…”

“You should. You had every right to stand up for yourself,” Madja cut her off. “And I am so sorry if I ever made you feel like you shouldn’t…if I ever made you feel like I thought that you should take all the looks and all the words and never say anything to defend yourself…you have every right to live a life just as unbothered as anybody else.”

Did she? 

Sometimes it didn’t feel that way. 

Sometimes it felt like…

“I love you. And I am so, so proud of you, Little Mouse.” Soft spoken words and still Galena clung to them, even when sleep came to claim her. 

It was dark in her room when she startled awake, rhythmically sounds of a knife being sharpened immediately stopping. 

She felt her bed dip as Azriel sat down on the side of it, and he reached out with his hand and took hers.

“Lena,” the nickname only he used slipped over her and made her relax, sink back into the bed and relax. “How are you feeling?” Azriel asked her softly. “I heard what happened…what he said.” He spat out the last few words and she looked at him, seeing the anger smouldering in his eyes, the intense way he mustered her, worried. 

“I am fine,” she answered, her voice quiet. “I had a great day until then,” she quipped. And then he went and ruined it.

“How was lunch with Rhys?” Azriel asked her curiously. 

“ You would be surprised, you walk beside the High Lord and people stare at him, not at me. It was great. Mor was there too,” she answered. Drawing circles on his skin with her thumb…he was still wearing these cobalt blue stones that marked him as an Illyrian warrior…two of them right on top of his hands. Not quite as startling as him barging in on her in full armour with seven glowing siphons for Emerie though. 

“She was?” Azriel asked, sounding surprised and she concentrated on his face, drinking in the expression on his far too handsome face…

“Yes,” Galena said quietly “Azriel? What did Mor mean when she said that she couldn’t give you something to focus on?” 

Had there been something between Mor and Azriel? Had they been a couple once? 

He looked surprised at her question.

“It’s…Are you sure you want to talk about it?” He asked her, looking decisively uncomfortable and she stared at him. She just nodded. 

Swallowed. 

“Centuries ago, I was in love with Mor,” Azriel said quietly. “It was never…I knew she was never going to go for me. Or I realised that after a few decades. But I…She was unattainable. To want her…was safe. I never needed to think about being turned down, because…she was going to turn me down. It was just a fact of life,” he said that so easily like he hadn’t spent a good few centuries in love with a female and yearning for her. 

“It took me a few centuries until another female caught my eye after her…that didn’t work out either. I had pretty much given up on ever finding my mate. And then…then you came into my life,” he said, his voice warm. “And suddenly…suddenly all made sense.” 

It was sweet. But she couldn’t help the shuddery feeling in her heart. 

Because she had met Mor, bright, beautiful Mor…

“You don’t need to be jealous of her,” Azriel said softly, lifting her hand to dust a kiss over the back of it. 

“She’s beautiful. I can see why you…” she didn’t get to answer because he cut her off. 

“You are beautiful too, you know.”

Galena couldn’t help but shake her head. “Not like her,” she said quietly. Not in that kind of beautiful, unscarred way…unblemished skin stretching over every inch of Mor. 

Galena was…Galena wasn’t the kind of beauty wars would be fought over. 

“True. For me you are so much more beautiful,” Azriel agreed and she couldn’t help but laugh. 

“You are ridiculous,” she told him, her lips perking up in a smile. He was sweet. 

But she knew the way she looked. And that wasn’t beautiful or even pretty. 

“I am not,” Azriel disagreed and she snorted.

“I have seen Mor,” she told him drily. 

“I have seen you,” Azriel disagreed, leaning down to press a kiss against her lips…then her cheeks, dusting them over her jaw and down her neck…whatever disagreement she wanted to say somehow disappeared at that. 

She moaned softly, one hand curling into the back of his neck…

“How are you really feeling?”  he asked her, his breath against her skin making her shiver. 

“What?” she couldn’t think, not when she could feel just the whisper of teeth against her skin. 

“Want me to stop?” he asked her softly. “Because otherwise, we’ll have a discussion how beautiful I think you are.”

Her whole body shivered at that silken promise in his voice. She swallowed. 

“No. Don’t stop,” she whispered, her voice shaky. 

She hadn’t been quite sure what to expect…but it wasn’t the feeling of him touching her like she was some kind of holy thing, every touch gentle and reverent against her skin…he opened every button of the pyjamas she wore, slipping them over her shoulder. Drew his hand down to her chest, to touch her breast, clever fingers, far too clever fingers, catching her nipples and she whimpered with the sudden onslaught of desire that was banking low in her belly. 

She wanted him. 

Oh, how she wanted him. 

“I know you don’t believe me…and I understand it, Lena. I do. I still can’t stand to look at my hands some days,” he told her, his voice hoarse. 

He may have acted like he was aloof and detached, but the way he looked at her, heat cradling in his hazel eyes, dark with desire, told her exactly how much he wanted her. 

“But I do think you are beautiful. All these scars, they tell a story of resilience…of everything that you survived so that we could come together,” he continued softly. “And I do love you.”

“I love you too,” she whimpered, words punctuated by a moan as he peppered his kisses against every inch of her skin he could reach, his tongue tracing against her breast and her breath caught in her throat…just as he sucked one rosy nipple in his mouth. 

The result was immediate, her back arching against him, a whimper escaping her. 

“Gods, I could just make a meal out of you,” Azriel whispered against her skin and she couldn’t help the full-body shudder these words resulted in. 

…a meal? Did she even want to know what that would entail? 

“You like that idea, don’t you?” Azriel asked her, a chuckle in his voice. “Me on my knees begging for a taste of you?”

Her brain immediately conjured up images and she wasn’t sure if that was...if that was something she would be able to withstand…Or if it would be too much. If she wouldn’t die from pleasure. 

Her heart jumped in her chest. 

“Who wouldn’t?” she managed to squeak out and he grinned at her, the smile on his face making him look wilder and younger and… “Azriel.”

He moved down her body so quickly that she had no chance to do something, as he pulled down her pyjamas and her underwear, all in one motion, leaving her bare to his gaze, her body trembling as his hands slowly slid up her legs. 

“Yes?” he asked her gently, and still she could just stare at him. “Give me a few seconds to change your mind at least,” he teased her gently. 

She swallowed, not without apprehension…and then finally nodded hesitantly, something knotting low in her belly.  

“Let me know when you had enough,” he told her and she opened her mouth to respond, but then his hands were gently opening her legs, shouldering between them and that was…

And then, without breaking her gaze, he swiped the broad, flat of his tongue up her slit. 

That was all he had needed to do before she was already a begging mess underneath him. 

“ Oh,” it caught in her throat, the sound embarrassingly high and thin. He hummed in pleasure against her skin as he closed his lips over that bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs, and she forgot her own fucking name and every bit of control over her body as her hips thrust up against him on their own accord. 

He laughed against her, the vibrations making her shudder, as he did it again, and then flickered his tongue over it in such a way that he had no choice but to pin her hips down to keep them on the bed. 

Her breath came in sharp gasps as he alternated between languid licks and then fucking his tongue into her…he slid his thumbs down to hold her apart so he could delve deeper…

Galena was helpless in his grasp as he devoured her. 

Devoured her like he was a starved male and she was his first meal in decades, like she was the best thing he had ever eaten in the first place, like her pleasure was the only thing that mattered…the pleasure was consuming her. 

She couldn’t even find the words for it, wordless cries of pleasure leaving her mouth nearly constantly, that pleasure tightening and tightening, climbing higher and higher until she found that great precipice and threw her down, let her explode in her pleasure…

She had thought that that was it, as she sank back against her bad, her breathing coming in sharp gasps…and then he just continued licking at her, and her back arched again, riding that razor-thin edge between pleasure and pain, as she ground against him, her core beginning to clench again. 

She wasn’t even sure how many times he made her find her peak, because she forgot everything. He reduced her to sharp cries of pleasure and hands grabbing for purchase, to grounding against him in search for more and when he finally let off her, she was hoarse and shaking, babbling noises that didn’t even make sense leaving her mouth. 

“Shhh, Lena. You did so well,” he praised her, pressing a kiss against her lips, and she gasped at the taste of herself on his tongue, these strong arms surrounding her, holding her. 

She could just press closer to him, even as he pulled back,  as a glass of water was pressed against her lips and she drank gratefully. 

That had been...that had been something. 

“Too much?” he asked her, nearly hesitantly, but she shook her head. 

No. Never. 

“No,” she brought out. “I loved every minute of it.”

[drpeppertummy]

ik conrads on top of the old man poll rn but im attacking my latest pal artie first bc i already had a plan

[very mild stuffing, mostly a whole lot of just Doin Stuff with little scraps of tummy in between]

"Alright, kid. You ever shuck a clam before?"

Celeste shook her head.

"It's not so hard. Look here," said Artie, taking a clam in one hand and the knife in the other. "You just stick it in that little groove..." Celeste watched nervously as he held the clam up to his face, carefully aligning the little knife in the miniscule notch between the lips of the shell. She wasn't entirely confident that he wasn't going to slice his finger off. She'd come to realize over the months that while he wasn't completely blind, he often put on that he could see a lot better than he really could. Still, he wedged the knife into the groove and, with a soft grunt, popped the shell open.

"Ta-da," he said, plucking away the top of the shell and setting it aside. "It takes a little elbow grease, but you'll get the hang of it. Anybody in your family any good at shucking clams?"

"I don't think so."

"Mine either. That's why it's important to learn. Every family's gotta have a clam shucker. Puts you high on the food chain. Here, give it a shot." He passed her the knife. She hesitantly picked up a clam, looked at it for a moment, and carefully lined up the knife.

Celeste managed to open one clam--hey, good girl, Artie had exclaimed with a firm pat on the back--before injuring herself, and then she was sent to chopping duty. She didn't have much in the way of culinary skills, but dicing the bacon and peppers was a far less daunting task than wrestling with the little mollusks. Artie, nerve-wracking though he was, blew through the rest of the bag with ease, opening up a couple dozen littlenecks in the same amount of time it took Celeste to chop up a pepper and a few pieces of bacon. Still, he praised her efforts--hey, choppin' ain't easy, especially with your hand all taped up--and they went on assembling the clams.

Artie had insisted on going all out for Celeste's birthday, and she'd driven him out to a little shack down the road to pick up some seafood. Following a good lesson on cooking, the two sat down for a mouthwatering dinner of pasta with seared scallops and lump crab meat in a garlicky wine sauce, accompanied by what Artie boasted as the best clams casino she'd ever try.

"Damn fine job you did on these," remarked Artie, holding up a clam. "You get the shucking down, you're set. You got your go-to party dish. I tell ya, this recipe has never done me wrong. You'll never wanna get 'em anywhere else."

Celeste wasn't the clam connoisseur that Artie seemed to be, but she couldn't deny that the clams were delicious, and the two ate enough of them to fill up even without the pasta. The pasta was, of course, not neglected either. The sauce was light and savory, and it mingled beautifully with the sweet crab and the buttery scallops. She could hardly believe she'd had anything to do with it. Nobody had ever bothered to teach her to cook, and her kitchen endeavors rarely got more complicated than stirring a frozen dinner between microwave sessions.

The pasta went down easy, and it was hard to stop eating, but it wasn't long before the bulkiness of it had both of them feeling full and sleepy. Still, Celeste went on picking at it. Artie, however, set his fork down and leaned back in his seat.

"Whoof, I'm stuffed," he sighed, resting a hand on his belly. "I don't think I can finish."

Truthfully, Celeste was surprised he ate as much as he did. Artie was small, and fairly slim for his age, which he chalked up to not having much of an appetite some days and not even being able to get out of bed on others. Tonight, though, he'd put away a good percentage of the big serving of pasta, along with about a dozen of the clams, and even under the compression of his back brace, she could tell his belly was full. Smiling fondly, she stood up and began to clear away their plates.

"Whoa, hey, it's your birthday, ain't it? Let me do it," said Artie, taking her arm as she reached for his plate.

"Oh, come on. You did all the work," she insisted, and he scoffed.

"I most certainly did not! Which of us was out there on the battlefield, chopping stuff up and boiling pasta? Wasn't me."

"Yeah, but you did the hard parts," she exclaimed, laughing. Artie pushed himself out of the chair with a groan.

"Difficulty is relative," he said with an impish smile, shaking a finger at her. "You did your part, now take a seat, missy, and that's final!"

Celeste rolled her eyes and sat down. There was no arguing with Artie; he was stubborn as a mule, and if he wanted to clean, there was no stopping him. She supposed he had a point, anyway--what was simple for a kitchen whiz like him took a lot more time and effort for a novice like her. Still, she stood again a moment later and joined him in cleaning up, and this time, he let her.

Artie relented and let Celeste take over washing the dishes--better eyes, he said--while he got the rest of the kitchen straightened up. Between the two of them, it didn't take long. While Celeste wasn't much of a cook, she was quick when it came to cleaning, although this skill didn't extend far beyond the kitchen sink. Feeling stuffed and eager to rest, they retreated to the living room, Celeste taking a seat on the couch while Artie dropped himself into the armchair across from her.

"Sheesh, I think I'm gonna have to adjust myself," he said, leaning back and untucking his shirt to loosen the brace wrapped around his middle. Celeste caught a glimpse of his full tummy pushing out snug against his undershirt, and she was thankful he couldn't see well enough to catch her blushing. Artie was only a friend, of course; he was nearly thrice her age, but there was little more tantalizing than a peek of tummy. He let his shirt fall back down with a sigh, looking far more comfortable, and Celeste was amused to see how much rounder his belly looked now that he'd given it some slack.

"You look stuffed," she giggled.

"Oh yeah?" Artie rested both hands on his belly, giving it a little pat for emphasis. "And what about you?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty full," she agreed, settling back into the couch cushion.

"Good, you better be. You did a great job cooking tonight."

"You think so?"

"I know so! You're gettin' good at this stuff, Celeste."