#everyone is totally allowed to feel a certain way but some things you keep to yourself

[zillaphoneswag]

Maybe I’m being a little too protective of Angela in a bit of a parasocial way at the moment but I don’t really care right now because this really pisses me off.

In the comments of the new Smosh Games people were going crazy over Angela blatantly cheating at the Meme game. I thought it was weird but also funny considering she’s ridiculously bad at cheating subtly. It obviously turned into a bit, although I understand cheating bothers some people considering here there was money involved.

But saying that Angela resorts to cheating and acting like a five year old because she has the mental capacity of a can of beans is just mean. Saying she’s a useless, unfunny child is so unnecessary. You’re allowed to be irritated by the cheating but there’s no need to be that much of a dick about it.

Also the whole video felt off. I can’t really describe it but something was weird from the beginning, with Angela especially. I won’t lie, that girl was not there in terms of being present or even making much sense. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was in real pain or she was on some pain medication that can dull your focus (I have every right to say this as a person who’s on ten different medications that all fuck with your head).

This got really long and usually I’m the last person to get involved in comment debates or to be irritated with the cast (beyond serious issues) but there’s lines to be drawn in certain situations. There are certain things you just don’t do and making fun of someone’s mental capacity for doing something stupid is one of them.

[vaguely-concerned]

My two cents on how much of Mind!Varric is Rook’s mind trying to fill the blank space and how much is Solas actively talking through a convenient blood magic paper doll of the mind: I think it's a mix of both, a truly collaborative psychosocial horrorshow if you would, but waaaay more towards the second. It feels too directed and tactical at times to be anything else. Rook's mind is willing to go along with the denial phase as far as it can fucking carry them to not have to face the grief and regret and does its part in papering over details that don’t make any sense, the way brains will strive to create coherent meaning even out of deeply confusing input, but to my understanding it's a collaborateur in how that plays out, not the instigator or control center. Solas is using it as a path to agency and to gather insight into Rook as a person unguarded as he can't count on in his own guise. (That stoic option that leads to him being like 'oh I see you're cautiously denying me access to your inner life. well. at least you still have Varric to talk to. y'know as an outlet :)'. You absolute BITCH Solas! That alone convinced me that he HAS to have an active hand in it on some level.)

My guess is that it takes considerable effort on Solas’ part to make Mind!Varric do anything more involved or complicated than seeming to sit up in bed and give casual commentary, and that’s why he keeps having eerie five minute shallow pep talks with you before he announces he conveniently needs a nap aaanyway good luck kid you got this haha. When he’s just spouting NPC lines from his bedrest, I’m ready to believe that could be Rook’s mind being allowed to improv lines for him more freely because it’s less about Solas trying to get something out of them or working an angle and more ‘Still here! Still totally alive and fine and the mentor figure you know and love and trust :) don’t even worry about it! Thankfully there is no war in Ba Sing Sei, as we all know’ upkeep work lol. Rook’s mind is allowed to set the tone of Varric, the outlines, but not always the content. 

AND, on a (beautifully fucked up) character psychology level, I feel like Solas is indulging in actually getting to be the good supportive mentor figure to Rook with one hand to assuage the guilt he feels about what he's done -- and what he's going to do -- to them with the other. Same internal logic as he uses in Trespasser about the Qun. ‘Almost everyone is going to die from the course of action I’m doggedly pursuing eventually. But at least I can make their last years happier and freer and kinder than they would have been otherwise. and that kind of makes up for it right. a little bit. doesn't it. doesn't that make it better at least. I need that to make it better)'. Did I really take your beloved mentor and friend from you if you don’t know yet that I did? Some philosophers would argue not really! So it’s probably almost ok actually. Isn’t it even a little noble that I’m taking all this grief and guilt on myself and shielding you for now. With undertones that I’m not sure he would realize himself (and might be mortified by if he did) that he is so incredibly lonely, and even a dishonest and indirect emotional connection is more than nothing when you’re that desperate. In this setup he gets idk. Both the control he craves so incredibly badly in relationships and over himself, and the scraps, the fading afterimages, of intimacy and warmth and companionship, even second hand. The one thing Solas and Rook agree on deep deep down is that they really wish Varric weren't gone. They're handshake memeing this in the saddest and most creepy way possible.

I think an important element too is that Solas needs Rook and their team to *succeed* —  up to a certain point. He needs someone to hold the two other elven mean girls off until he can get out of here. Ideally, in a perfect world, even do all the hard work of killing them so he can swoop in at the end and do his thing when both sides are exhausted and out of resources to stop him, and then Bob’s your uncle! Same logic as he was using with Corypheus, and after that worked out so well, too! King of choosing to never learn from a single solitary mistake he’s ever made even though i fully believe he could have the capacity to Fen’Harel <3 The underlying idea isn’t flawed, you see, it was just unforeseen circumstances getting in the way. This time for sure it’ll all work out the way I cleverly imagined it in my head beforehand. Cue By Talos this can’t be happening etc. in the form of a statue almost crushing him like a bug. 

So he's providing guidance and forging Rook into a leader from two angles: one Rook might not trust, and one they probably will. Shaping them into what he needs slowly and carefully. He’s helping you hone your team into their most effective state, as he might have done with his own agents back in the day, setting up his chess pieces even if he has to squint through two glimpsed realities to do it haha. Pincer maneuver of an insidious stealth mentor you never asked for. Also… at one point mind Varric gives you a whole little monologue about how Solas' problem is that he’s always seen his interpersonal connections as flaws and see where it’s landed him, all alone and the worst part? it hasn’t even worked. it’s all been for nothing he’s back where he began with nothing to show for it but his mistakes. Like...that has such strong 'uh okay happy to play your therapist from two rooms away here what the fuck kind of traumadump is this' energy to me, I’m not sure Rook like. Thinks that much about Solas as a private person. So much of Solas' self-loathing and futile insights into his own flaws seem to shine through in Mind!Varric's dialogue all the time — I just can't believe that there's no guiding hand behind it as it were. 

Most of all. I feel like people underestimate the degree to which Solas is incredibly funny. As in, he has a very consistent and recognizable sense of humour. It’s one of my very favourite things about him. We must remember — it is crucial that we always keep in mind — Orlesian accent and wig Solas from May The Dread Wolf Take You (my beloved, the explanation for why I love this dude even with the. All of the everything else. No one does it quite like him). He is not at all above doing things or adding little flourishes for his own obscure amusement, in fact that seems to me to be one of his most consistent traits. The Randy Dowager Quarterly comment Varric has? The ‘Maybe this is the Dread Wolf’s revenge. Forcing us to house sit for him’ thing? To Me this is 100% Solas amusing himself in his boring Fade jail surrounded by the screaming hellscape of all his regrets. Source: it came to me as divine revelation through pure vibes trust me bro 

If nothing else I find it much more narratively interesting personally if the connection between Rook and Solas really is that defenselessly intimate and entwined (and so unbalanced!), and the sense of violation and invasion and betrayal afterwards consequently all the more nauseatingly intense. Even if you kept him at arm’s length in the open, he’s been under your skin the whole time, looking around, gathering what he needs to destroy you, wearing the face of a friend. Regretfully, probably, but choosing to do it every step of the way anyway. (Sound familiar, Inquisitor? Solas doesn’t have that many tricks when you actually look at it, he keeps returning to old tried and true ones like a dog with a bone haha.) Maybe he even genuinely meant some of it as mercy, which only makes it so much worse. It makes his sin against his own core principles of autonomy and the freedom of all beings in mind, spirit and body so much more juicily grave if it’s something he pursues actively and consistently, rather than it half-falling into his lap as a happy accident mainly orchestrated by Rook’s own subconscious. Solas, too, is at his very lowest point, the closest to giving in and becoming his own antithesis fully that he’s ever been, and it makes the choice of whether you still reach out your hand to him one last time or not all the more impactful and difficult.

[wildsupernova]

mistletoe kisses.

prompt #4 on scealaiscoite’s christmas prompts list: “hidden bunches of mistletoe”

summary: it’s christmas time in the city, a time full of holiday cheer and celebrations. when you refuse to do anything about your feeling towards steve, robin comes up with a festive way to pull you two together.

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: 2.4k

warnings: no use of y/n, fluff, some language

a/n: hey everyone! my sincerest apologies for my total disappearance from my blog for like 4 months. this semester absolutely kicked my ass and i’ve had no time or motivation to write much of anything, but now that i’m in my last two weeks for the semester i finally have some time and energy. i’ll be posting some small holiday stories likely until the end of december (if i can manage to stay consistent) and hope to get back into the groove of things. i hope you enjoy this little drabble, and thank you for sticking around! expect more in the future (if my brain allows it) —— nova

masterlist | prompts list

December. A month filled with festive decor, frantic holiday shopping, Christmas parties, and the same five holiday songs playing on every store radio. As annoying as it could be, it truly was a time that filled you with excitement and joy, especially now, after you had long since graduated from walking the halls of Hawkins high and moved to the cold and windy downtown of Chicago with your best friends. 

Christmas in Hawkins was definitely something special, but not like it was in the city. Back home, the small downtown squares decorated their exteriors for the holidays, sure, but here, where expensive department stores and extravagant cafes lined the seemingly endless streets that made up downtown Chicago, lights and music and tinsel were almost never out of sight. The lamp posts lining the sidewalk were wound with shimmering red and silver garland, nearly every storefront with a big front window had a Christmas tree on display, and street performers played Christmas carols on every corner. Even the subway cars had been decorated for the occasion, advertisements now covered with pictures of Santa Claus wishing all the riders a happy holiday. There was only one thing that put a damper on your holiday spirit. 

Not having that special someone to celebrate the holidays with. 

You had your friends, sure, but the holidays were supposed to be a time for romance, for spending the day trapped inside of your shitty apartment watching the snow fall with only a thick blanket and a loving body to keep you warm. It had been the subject of your frustration for a good few years now, and even became more frustrating after you finally came to terms with your feelings for a certain Steve Harrington. 

“It’s fine, Robin. The holidays will continue whether I have a boyfriend or not.” You sprayed a bit of perfume into the air in front of you and took a sniff, scrunching up your nose and putting it back on the shelf as the offensive floral odor invaded your nose. 

“But the holidays would be the perfect time to finally tell him how you feel!” You had to swerve the shopping cart around Robin as she stepped in front of you, a pointless effort as she simply ran right back in front of it. 

“He doesn’t like me like that, Robin.”

“You don’t know that! But, if you tell him how in love with him you are-”

“I am not in love with him.”

“Yeah, okay, sure.” You rolled your eyes at Robin’s teasing, threatening to run her foot over with the cart if she didn’t move out of the way. “All I’m saying is that you always complain about how you don’t have a date on Christmas and that now would be the perfect time to get one.”

“Look, Robin, I appreciate your focus on fixing my love life, but I’m fine, really. Let’s just get the rest of this shopping done before it gets too late, I don’t want to try to squeeze through all the late shoppers on the train ride back.” You picked up a box of Christmas ornaments off the shelf, ready to put them in the cart until you saw the price tag. Eyes widening and letting out a soft whistle, you put them back and continued moving down the aisle. 

“Both of you are completely insufferable, you know that? Always complaining to me about this shit and then when I give you an easy solution you just- OH MISTLETOE!” Rushing forwards like a little kid seeing a toy, Robin launched towards a shelf at the end of the aisle, nearly knocking both you and the shopping cart into a shelf full of Christmas lights. She grabbed several bundles from off the shelf and bounced on her toes in front of you, eyes wide and twinkling.

“Robin, we are not getting mistletoe to hang around the apartment.” Her face dropped into a pout and you swore you saw her eyes begin to get watery with tears. 

“Why noooot?” She dragged the last word out like a child, and you found yourself rolling your eyes at her like a scolding parent. 

“Because we don’t need to hang up mistletoe. This isn’t one of those cliche Christmas movies where the couple kisses in the doorway before a fade to black. Now put it back, we still have to find the ornaments.” 

Robin huffed, throwing the bundles back on the shelf. 

“Fine.”

As you turned your head to look at another box of ornaments, you didn’t see Robin take the bundle back off the shelf and hide it underneath the tree skirt with a smile.

Putting up Christmas decorations in you and Robin’s small apartment certainly wasn’t a task you needed more than the two of you for, but when Steve and Eddie offered their help, and Nancy and Jonathan showed up at the door with a warm batch of fresh Christmas cookies, it turned from a two person job to a six person job quickly. The sheer amount of decorations Robin had made you buy certainly made sure there was enough for everyone to do, and before you knew it, the apartment was busy with bodies hanging garland above the door and trying desperately to figure out how to put up the fake Christmas tree. 

Your task of helping Eddie put up the tree had kept most of your attention off of Steve, but the longer it took, and the more whining you heard from Eddie, the more your focus started to drift. He was just barely out of your line of sight, lingering in the corner of your eye as he climbed the small step ladder to start hanging the Christmas garland around the perimeter of the living room. Robin said something to him as she handed him the garland and whatever it was had him tipping his head back with a groan, hair flopping out of place and muscles in his neck straining as he did. He ran a hand down his face and then through his hair, and you nearly groaned when he balled it into a fist at his side, gold watch glistening on his wrist. 

As he reached up to hammer the nail into the wall, you saw the bottom of his tight fitting red sweater lift up past the waistband of his jeans, showing off the toned muscles on the side of his abdomen and just the smallest hint of his Calvin Klein boxers. You sucked in a breath as it kept creeping higher and higher the further up on the wall he tried to reach, and without thinking, your hands completely let go of the part of the tree you were holding. 

Which caused the whole thing to tumble over right on top of Eddie.

A muffled ‘help’ came from underneath the mess of fake pine needles, Eddie’s legs peeking out from underneath in a way that would certainly be comedic if you weren’t absolutely mortified. You were quick to rush to Eddie’s aid, face flushed entirely red with embarrassment, in the hope that you could get him up quick enough that none of the attention would be pulled towards you, but one look to your left showed you that all eyes were already on you. Steve's face looked more worried than anything, but Robin was behind him holding in a laugh, and you had to send a glare her way to get her not to say anything. 

Setting the tree back in its place and reaching down to help Eddie up, he mumbled under his breath, crossing his arms and glaring at you in annoyance. 

“Never asking you for help again, not until you can learn to stop staring at St-” 

“I should go get the ornaments now that the tree is set up!” You cut him off loudly, much to his dismay, watching as Robin kept trying to hold in her laugh from over Steve’s shoulder. Shooting her a sharp glare, you jabbed Eddie in the ribs when he tried to make another comment. “Robin, why don’t you come help me grab them from the closet?”

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ll be able to reach them. Maybe Steve should go help?” The Cheshire grin on Robin’s face paired well with the way she patted Steve on the back and nudged him forward, Steve’s eyes going wide and his cheeks quickly going red. 

“Uh, y-yeah, I can help, if you need me to.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, giving Robin a glare as she pushed him forwards again. 

“I could use the help, sure.” You gave him a smile, which he returned, and started heading down the hallway, throwing one last look to Robin over your shoulder. 

Digging through your bedroom closet, you tried to find the bags of Christmas decorations you had put there only a few days before, coming up empty handed after throwing nearly everything in it to the side.

“I swear, I just put it in here two days ago.”

“Maybe you put it on the top shelf by accident?”

“I doubt it, I can’t even reach up there.”

“I’ll look anyway, maybe Eddie moved it when he got the tree down-” Steve cut himself off abruptly, clearing his throat mid reach up to the top shelf of your closet. You threw a few more things to the side, not yet looking up. 

“What? Did you find it?” When you did finally look up, you saw Steve’s gaze trained on the top of the closet door frame, hands still reaching to grab the bag of Christmas ornaments you could see sitting on the top shelf. You pulled your eyes away from where his sweater was riding up again and instead followed his line of sight, eyes widening and face going even redder than before when you saw exactly what it was that had stopped Steve in his tracks. 

A small bundle of mistletoe, hidden just behind the door frame and hanging right above the bag of Christmas ornaments. 

“Oh.” Steve swallowed thickly when you spoke and he finally let himself move, grabbing the bag full of ornament boxes and handing it to you softly. “I told Robin not to buy that, she must have hung that up there to be…funny, or something.” You grabbed one of the boxes still inside the bag, the plastic crinkling as you gripped it tight. Steve’s hands remained hovering in the air after you took the bag from his grip, eyes soft as they looked down at you over his nose. 

“Yeah, sounds like Robin.” The air grew thick as you looked at him, clearing your throat to try and cut through the tension the best you could. You let out a dry laugh, turning away from him and starting to travel towards the door.

“Well, got the ornaments, we should probably get back out there-” You were cut off when Steve’s hand wrapped around your wrist to stop you, pulling you back just a few inches. 

“Wait.” You turned to face him again, the redness in his cheeks and ears not going unnoticed. “Can’t break tradition.”

“What do you mean?” He let out a low chuckle and flashed you a smile. 

“Come on, I know you know what I’m talking about.” When you didn’t respond, he pulled you closer, the bag of ornaments softly falling to the floor as you let go of the handle in surprise.

“I can assure you that I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You kept playing dumb, hoping it would let you talk your way out of the situation, but Steve’s grin only grew wider. 

“You know what happens when two people walk under the mistletoe.”

“Do I?” Steve took another step towards you and you could feel your heart skip a beat, his body so close that his own heat radiated onto you. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I think you do.” He was slow as he brought his hand up to the side of your face, gently tilting your head up towards him as he leaned down to meet you somewhere in the middle. You could smell the expensive cologne on his skin as he moved down closer and closer, your eyes darting across his face when you became unsure where to look. It felt like hours before your lips finally connected, slotting between each other like perfectly matching puzzle pieces. 

Your heart was beating out of your chest, so loud in your own ears that you weren’t sure Steve couldn’t hear it himself, but the way his hand had started to tangle in your hair pulled all of your focus entirely to him. Standing up on your toes to reach him, you let your hands fall naturally against his chest, fists tightly gripping on to his sweater for balance. The kiss was soft and slow, as if he were testing the waters, but when you finally had enough sense to kiss him back, it changed into something different. Butterflies swam in your stomach when his other hand came up to hold the other side of your face, and he let out a groan when you melted into him with your arms draped over his shoulders. 

The kiss lasted until neither of you could breathe, Steve chasing your lips as you lowered back down on your heels and pulled away. It was silent in the room for another minute, the only sounds that of the reverberating conversation down the hall and the shared rhythm of you and Steve catching your breaths. 

“Merry Christmas.” Steve was first to speak, words breathy and hands still holding the side of your face. 

“Merry Christmas.” Your hands traveled to the front of his sweater in an effort to fix where your hands had left it wrinkled, his own thumbs softly running along your flushed cheeks. You leaned up to meet him in another kiss, but just as your lips were about to touch, Robin’s voice echoed loudly from down the hall. 

“Did you find it yet?” You both stopped your movements with a laugh, pressing your forehead to his before finally taking a step apart. Picking up the bag of ornaments, you took one more glance at the mistletoe hanging in the closet, laughing under your breath. 

“Yeah. Yeah, we found it.”

[technically-human]

hi :) i hope you don't mind all the asks about which characters are switched in the reversed universe, if you do feel totally free to disregard this. but i was wondering, are the cat king and esther switched? also, perhaps monty and simon? i would love your thoughts. thank you :)

I don't mind at all, please keep them coming!

There are certain characters that we decided wouldn't be swapped, such as everyone's parents, the sprites, David the demon and Simon, although some things do change to better fit the story.

For example, David was never dating Niko. He offered her friendship, maybe pretended to have someone he loved. Niko is not dumb, but she is heartbroken and lonely since her dad died, so she allows him to possess her.

Simon is still the one who lead the boys who killed Edwin. He was, indeed... In love? with him, but he took it way too far. I don't think we can redeem this one guys.

Monty is swapped with the Cat King, so Thomas is actually Mick's (yeah, Mick) familiar. His attempts at seduction are way too forward for Edwin though. And Monty is... I suppose the Crow King? He's a lot more charming, but still doesn't entirely work on Edwin, so he ends up trapping him, oops.

Esther is a woman who was granted immortality but won't stop aging. She has accepted this and is now running a magic shop. She will complain to anyone who's willing to listen.

And Tragic Mick? He's willing to sacrifice whatever and whoever it takes to become a walrus again.

[liliths-missing-pen]

Heartsyabul Dorm (Part 1) Takes You Out On First Date

I have no idea what possessed me but I feel like I cooked??? Anyway enjoy my first headcanons/drabbles since I dipped off the face of the internet

Heartslabyul Dorm (Literally just Riddle) x GN!Reader

Masterlist

Part 1 (You are here) Part 2 (Soon) Everyone in Heartslabyul will be posted eventually!

Warnings: None

Riddle Rosehearts

If Riddle isn't busy or worried about someone Ace or Deuce setting the dorms ablaze in his absence he would take you out. Somewhere like a cafe or maybe even a small bakery. He would take lots of advice from Trey and Cater since he trusts their opinions. If you don't have an excellent relationship with food, Riddle would take you out for tea tasting instead! I didn't even know this was a thing till I started searching for ideas He loves tea and he wants to share that love with you too.

You have to be reminded though, he's the Heartlabyul house warden, an honour student and has to keep up to par with his dorm to make sure none of them burns it down as well as making sure they keep up with the rules. Even though Riddle may lighten up on some rules that the dorm agrees are a little ridiculous, such as the rule to run underwater to dry off. I swear this is a rule but I can’t find it anywhere on the wikis So as boring as it may sound if he's busy you two would have a study date in his dorm room!

He thought dating anyone would be off the table for him, a thought his mother put into right before he left for NRC. So he isn't well-versed in this area he'd be very nervous throughout the whole date. He's never had to attempt something that he wasn't good at in front of others. You'd probably have to calm him down since he would like he'd explode at any moment if you didn't do something sooner.

Add this into one of the other points but he'd totally be insecure about his personality and why you agreed to a date with him

This was one of the only times Riddle had time off. The Adeuce duo were occupied, no unbirthday parties to plan, and Trey had plans to be at the dorm all day allowing him to be able to take you out for your first date. Being his usual self he came to Ramshackle dorm 11 am sharp, greeting you at the door with a bunch of roses for you. The sweet aroma was so similar to the boy in front of you now, though he didn't seem to be the same boy who picked you up this morning.

Ever since the two of you had got to this cafe, which Cater himself recommended to Riddle, he was extremely awkward. You were expecting it to be slightly awkward with your knowledge of how he was raised with limited knowledge about the aspect of dates and romance but you never imagine it would be this bad. He was tense and you could tell as well just by the way he was having issues meeting your gaze. You were empathic to the redhead in front of you since you knew it wasn't an easy task to ask you out. Nor was it easy to have a first date with someone either.

"So Riddle what book have you been reading lately?” You inquired, Riddle was an avid reader trying, you were trying to get him to come out of his shell. Riddle had relaxed slightly once you mentioned one of his dearest interests. "Well, at the moment I'm reading this book about psychology, mostly about how the brain responds to certain situations and how feelings-" after this voice went softer than before, shying off "-mostly love and it works incoherently," He admitted with his face getting as red as his hair. "Mc, if you couldn't tell I'm not used to being on a date with someone else, I'm sorry for it being so awkward I just.." He sighed in defeat making a quick glance at you but immediately looking away once seeing you were looking straight at him.

You chuckled, you felt like you should've seen this coming "Riddle, there's no need to be nervous I like you, for you." You told him tenderly, you reached out for his hand grasping it, your thumb slowly brushing gently across his knuckles to try and ease him.

Your efforts seemed to backfire on you as your words made him bright red. "Mc... I-" he couldn't bring himself to say anything to your words.

"Don't. I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't reciprocate anything would I sunshine?" Well... Now you've got yourself an even more flustered little rose.

I take commissions!

[honeybunhottie]

new story idea! are yall in?

You’ve always wanted a close knit friend group. Your entire life, it seems like you’ve spent longing for one. And one day, you believe you’ve found it! Only for your world to be completely turned topsy turvy when they not so accidentally sacrifice you during a camping trip gone wrong.

Suddenly you wake up and it’s 2013 again. Flappy Bird is the hottest new game, everyone is doing the Harlem Shake, and vines and dodge memes are the pinnacle of humor. Mustaches and Chevron are everywhere, and "Keep Calm and blah blah blah" sayings are on everything.

You don’t remember much from this year, but everything seems a little off. It’s like everything is a little to the left. You take it as nostalgia clouding your memory and decide to just coast along. You'll invest in bitcoin and become a youtuber or something. Everything is going perfect, your plan aligning until your first day at your new high school that your 'not parent' parents enrolled you in. It's been a couple of months of you working non-stop at Starbucks, you're feeling established, you even got a cute owl necklace to be fashion backwards forward! The day itself was going well, until a slightly younger Sam Giddings is giving you a mini tour of the school.

Oh shit.

You were desperate for a friend group, yes. But not THAT desperate. They barely even like each other! Most of them ended up dead in your playthroughs, and it was basically at the hands of their friends! Every. Single. Time.

Well, except that one time with the remaster. You somehow managed to keep everyone alive. Not a great track record though! Especially if you somehow got thrown into this now VERY real life weird game mix.

It should be obvious how to avoid calamity here, there’s even a few options! Beg your 'not parent' parents to transfer you to another school? Okay that was a fail, its only been two days of the semester, but fear not, there’s other ways to avoid certain death! Beg your counselor to switch your classes? This one works a little TOO good, and now all of your classes have at least one cast member in them. Your last hope is to ignore and avoid them,  entirely denying their existence in the first place. You think that it'll be easy enough...

Except you never stood a chance. Not when Sam looks at you with that amused quirk of her lip when you trip over your words as her lab partner. Not when Jess hits your arms incessantly as she laughs at your sarcastic responses. And certainly not when Josh throws his arm around your shoulder, treating you like he’s known you for years despite your short time together. These guys were crazy! They were insane in the game! Why are they growing on you? This just doesn't make sense!

Except it does.

Because here’s the thing: 

If the universe was working overtime to send you here through your possibly a cult old friend group, maybe this is life’s weird way of answering your years of tears and begging for a group of people to love and be loved back by.

And there's nothing wrong with that! You're allowed to have some fun in your life!!! You can totally just cruise on by with them, go to a few parties and sleepovers here and there, then say no to the lodge hangouts. Maybe you’ll visit your 'not grandma' grandma across the country?

Except that plan becomes doomed as well. Very inconveniently, your 'not grandma' grandma dies a month before your planned visit. Your 'not parent' parents are heading out of town that weekend for their anniversary. And possibly the most damming and inescapable of all, you’ve grown quite attached to the Washington sisters.

How could you, in good conscience, leave them to their fate without at least trying to save them? These people, YOUR friends, who you’ve exchanged hearts with? You’ve got to at least attempt it. That's what friends do!

So hit the gym! And take up a weird outdoorsy sport or two. There’s roughly 6 months until the events of the prologue take place, and you aren’t going down without a fight.

[acaciusbride]

hello!! i saw you were taking requests and i couldn’t find any set rule list, so please ignore this if it’s not something you’re comfortable with ❤️ but what maybe some smut where they’ve been in jackson for a bit and the girls there don’t get the hint that he’s taken and reader gets jealous and is the dominant one? also totally marks him so they know. (sorry i don’t usually request smut so im not really sure if i should add more or not but i really like your work so i wanted to try) anyway, thank you if you get to this and again, truly no issue if you don’t. i hope you have a fantastic day/evening 🥰❤️

Hi anon! Sorry this took so long, I had the big writers block for the last few days! I hope this is what you’re looking for!

You don’t get irritated easily. It’s one of the things Joel likes about you, actually. You tend to be the level headed one, the one people go to in a crisis because you’re damn near impossible to piss off. Damn near, but not quite. And lately, people have been pushing your damn buttons. Everyone has a weakness, and yours is Joel. 

You know he’s handsome. Hell, you’re not the only one who knows it. If he wasn’t so caught up in… well, being Joel, he’d probably be able to have any of the women in Jackson that he wanted. Somehow, he wanted you. Long before you even arrived there, too. Your relationship is concrete. Infallible. Only, there are a few women who don’t seem to have gotten the hint. 

They flirt with him, right in front of you sometimes. He doesn’t seem to notice, doesn’t seem to care, and whenever you bring it up? He’s dismissive of it. 

“I don’t care who’s lookin’ at me, darlin’, I’ve only got eyes for you.” 

Sweet words, yes. And it’s not that you don’t trust him. You do. With your life, with your heart and your soul. 

It still gets to you. Especially when he gets so pissy whenever anyone so much as looks at you. Oh, sure, you like it, and you love the possessive way he fucks you whenever it happens… but it’s given you an idea. Everyone knows now not to flirt with you or touch you, because you’re always, without fail, covered in love bites or have Joel with you, his hand on the small of your back in a not so subtle possessive way. 

It’s your turn. Time to flip the cards, as it were. 

——

Sunlight streams in through the window; it’s snowed overnight again, of course, but it looks to be a beautiful day. 

You’re awake first, for once; you’ve noticed that he sleeps better beside you. Oh, he still has his nightmares, and you’re certain he always will, but you’ve noticed a definite improvement. 

Your idea still bounces around your mind, a way to keep those pesky women away from him for good. Maybe if they know, without any reason to doubt, that he’s yours… they’ll back off. If he was anyone else, you might be nervous. But he’s not anyone else, he’s Joel. Your Joel. 

The thought gives you courage as you curl your body into his, press slow kisses up his chest. That’s new, too. Since settling in Jackson, you’re both far more at ease with sleeping in very little clothing, or, in this instance, naked. 

Your fingertips trail along his arms as you kiss over his heart, keep kissing up to his throat, along his jaw. 

“Hmm? Mornin’, darlin…” His voice is always so much more heavily accented first thing in the morning, sleepy and content. You like that, the change from being instantly alert to allowing himself a moment. 

“Hi there.” You keep on kissing, along his jaw to his lips, kissing the corner of his mouth. 

“Didn’t get enough last night, huh?” He doesn’t sound annoyed, not at all. For all he comments about being fifty six and not able to keep up with such a pretty young thing, he does a damn good job. Honestly, his stamina is fucking impressive. That, and you can feel him, hard against your stomach. Time to put your idea into practice. 

“Never.” You agree, before you roll, catching him off guard enough that you can straddle him, keeping him flat on his back on the soft bed. 

He raises an eyebrow, amused at your sudden movement. He’s used to you being the submissive one, begging him to be rougher, harder, being pinned beneath him or on all fours, occasionally against a wall or on the couch if you can’t make it to the bed. It happens. Even when you ride him, he has the control, and you both know it. 

He’s not used to this, to you straddling him with a sense of purpose, a glint in your eyes as you lean down and kiss him again, a searing kiss to his mouth that’s all passion, all desperation, like he’s the purest drug left in the world and you’re addicted. 

Without breaking the kiss, you grind down against him, letting his hands drift to your waist, guiding you. Slowly, you brush your bare folds along the length of him, enjoying the way he watches you, pupils blown wide. 

You can’t let yourself be distracted, no matter how much you want to be. 

“What’s gotten into you, huh?” His voice is hoarse, heavy with arousal as you kiss the corner of his mouth again, circling your hips, teasing the tip of his cock with your wetness. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” You reply, kissing his throat, finding a nice spot to leave your mark. Before he can answer you again, your kiss turns to a bite, sucking a deep purple mark into his throat as his hands shift lower, settling on your ass. 

You can feel his cock throbbing against you; it’s almost embarrassing how much you want him, how easy it would be to simply cave, beg him to roll you over and pin you to the bed. But this isn’t about you, not right now. This is about Joel, and about making sure those damn annoying women in town know that he’s yours. He’s yours. 

“Gonna tease me all morning, baby?” His tone makes it clear he doesn’t mind, not in the slightest, even if the haze of sleep has been replaced with lust. 

“Maybe.” You concede, leaving another mark on his collarbone. “I can see why you do this to me, now…” 

It certainly looks nice, the contrast of the purple marks against his olive skin. 

“Usually I fuck you, too.” Joel comments, and you laugh. 

“Is that your way of begging?” You ask, admiring the string of marks on his throat. Not bad, honestly. Not bad at all. 

“Sweetheart, if I was begging you, you’d know it.” He tries to sound stubborn, but you choose that moment to tease him again, brushing yourself against the tip of him once more. There’s a slight catch to his voice as he says it. 

“Are you sure?” 

He rolls his eyes. “Really, what’s gotten into you?” 

You smirk, lean down and press a kiss to his lips. 

“Maybe I just wanted to prove a point.” Your own resolve is failing slightly, just enough to cut your teasing short; maybe if you had slightly more control, you’d tease him for longer. But you know him, know his patience is limited, even for you. 

“And what might that be?” His hands are still on your waist; you move your own hands to his arms, keeping his movement limited; he’s not taking control, not this time. 

You don’t answer him for a moment, shift yourself, guide yourself to him, sink down onto him slowly. 

“That you’re mine,” you say finally, as every inch of him fills you; it takes a fair bit of effort to sound so in control, considering. He’s not exactly small, not so big he hurts you either, just right, perfectly filling you, the tip of him stroking against your sweet spot. 

“That so?” If Joel had his arms free, he’d be torn between crossing them behind his head, lazing back and just letting you have control, or seizing your waist and flipping you over, taking back control. He’s used to being the dominant one, but this? He could get used to this. There’s something appealing about the way you’re acting. 

“Yes.” You don’t dignify him with a drawn out answer; there are much better ways to punctuate what you’re saying, like circling your hips slowly, letting him feel you tighten around him. There’s an advantage to this position; you can use his arms to brace yourself as you start to ride him, slow at first. 

You can’t help the surge of confidence that comes with having him in this position. You know what sort of man he is, know exactly what he’s capable of. The fact that he’s willingly submitting to you, even if it’s just for curiosity sake… it definitely makes you feel good about yourself, encourages you to keep going. 

“C’mon, sweetheart, this all you got?” There’s an amused glint in his eyes; he knows you’re holding back on him, knows there’s strength in you that you keep hidden away. He’s seen glimmers of it, like when you marked him, but honestly, he wants to see how far you’ll go before you break. 

“Shut up, Joel.” You roll your eyes, lean down to kiss him. He meets you halfway; props himself up so you can change positions, so you’re more sitting in his lap than anything. You have to admit, you like the intimacy of it, the way his chest is pressed against yours. His arms encircle you, but he doesn’t try to take control of the situation, content with letting you ride him, setting the pace, trailing kisses along his chest. 

Even like this, you still have the control, are still the one calling the shots. You wrap your arms around his neck to steady yourself, riding him faster, finally allowing little sounds of pleasure to fall from your lips when he moans. 

“I dunno where this came from, sweetheart,” he mumbles into your ear, “but I kinda like it.” 

You laugh, curl your hands into his hair, your laughter fading into moans and mewls as he starts to buck his hips up to meet you as you ride him, getting deeper, bringing you into a perfect rhythm. 

You need something to do with your mouth to quiet you; you suck another mark into his throat to occupy yourself, satisfied when he groans. 

“Fuck, darlin’, you’re getting good at that…” Joel’s hands caress your waist, up your back, as though he’s trying to memorise every inch of your skin. He could spend all day touching you, and it wouldn’t be enough. 

“Learned from the best,” you reply, resting your head on his shoulder as you pick up your pace. He meets you each time, rocking his hips up to match your pace, for once keeping his filthy mouth to himself in place of a string of moans and growls. 

“You’re mine.” You remind him as you kiss him once more, as close to your release as he is to his own. 

“And you’re mine,” he confirms, hands settling on your waist, holding you in place as he bucks up into you, drawing your climax out of you, satisfied by the loud gasps and moans that fall from your lips. He doesn’t get long to be smug, though; your tightening around him is enough to bring him to his own release; you bear down on him, keeping him inside you, taking every drop that he has to give you. 

He shakes his head, half amused, as soon as he can catch his breath. 

“If anything comes of that… that’s on you.” He warns you. Not that he’d ever abandon you. Never. 

“Oops.” You wriggle on him, getting him deeper, proving your point. 

He drops a light kiss to your lips. 

“You should show this side more often,” Joel says, and then smirks, “you’re cute when you’re jealous.” 

You scoff, admire the string of bites and marks along his chest, collarbones, and throat. 

“Somehow, I think they’ll get the message.” 

[poisonousroxstar]

I haven't seen many writers for Cyberpunk on here! Could I possibly request yandere Meredith Stout hcs, please?

Imagine

Yandere Meredith Stout

Contains: yandere themes, abuse of power, a brief sexual mention.

Thanks for sending in this request! There really isn't much content for cyberpunk, so I'm happy to supply some! (Feel free to send in some request for the game!)

Total power abuser, especially if you're male. She'll use every asset she has at her disposal to make sure you're stuck in her clutches; blackmail, threats, manipulation - you name it, she'll use it against you. If you have any loved ones or precious things, Meredith is more than willing to wave their safety above your head to make sure you're compliant.

Meredith will treat a male or masculine darling a bit more harshly than a female or feminine darling, due to her dominant and power-driven nature. As a yandere, it's hard to tell the difference, but it's in the subtle moments that you can pick up on it; the way her touch is softer for a feminine darling then the grip she has on a masculine darling. How her voice is just a bit more gentler.

Rivals aren't a thing with her, she'll make them disappear like a goddman magician. If she even catches a whiff that someone might be interested in you, she's quickly going to act. Torture, maiming, blackmail, the works. No one is allowed to touch you. Only her.

Despite her rough and extremely controlling nature, Meredith does truly care about you. There's always the constant fear of you leaving her or dying in the back of her mind, which is why she's as extreme in keeping you by her side. More likely than not, Meredith keeps you somewhere safe.

It's not always a living hell with Meredith. As long as you listen and obey her, Meredith can be much more tolerable. She'll spoil you with gifts and luxuries, especially after a long time of absence due to her work with Militech. If the relationship is more romantic and you've been especially good and compliant, Meredith will definitely have a lot of sex with you. It serves as a stress relief for her, and watching her magic work on you is pure dopamine.

There's some level of control you have over Meredith due to her infatuation and trust in you. If you play your cards carefully, you can worm out all sorts of intel from her and have certain things go your way. But remember, Meredith is a corpo with an extremely short fuse for everyone - including you. Be very careful with the woman.

[olderthannetfic]

This NaNoWriMo stuff with AI is largely unsurprising to me. I don't know how many people have gone beyond reading the viral clipped out bit about classism and ableism, but there was a follow up statement on that, in which they claim to take a very neutral stance. That their initial intent was apparently trying to curtail harassment of those who are using AI and they at least apologized for their confusing and unthoughtful wording of their original statement. Which seems legitimate enough to me. I'm sure they are sorry, considering the swift and unforgiving backlash they received. What I find kind of bizarre about this whole thing is, like, if you are running an event surrounding writing and making guidelines for what is and isn't okay in general-- then wouldn't it be a perfectly reasonable addition, to set out some level of encouraged practices for how one should or shouldn't use AI for during said event. Guidelines that are encouraged, that follow what everyone believes to be the spirit of the event (sitting down and actually writing a little every day for a month) would seem like a perfectly reasonable thing to do, to me. Like, am I off base here? With the rise in AI this seems like the natural progression. Even if only in spirit, not allowing generated works specifically seems like it would be a completely understandable guideline that keeps the event fair to those trying to do it the way it's meant to be done. And if you wanted to be neutral about it, it could be presented alongside a more lax policy around using AI to say, generate a plot bunny when experiencing writers block or create names for places/characters. People have been using tools like that for ages so there's precedent to allow "thoughtful" use of AI for these purposes. Anything at all, even if it can't be completely enforced, seems like it would have been better. The random endorsement of AI for people in certain circumstances from their follow up statement, and how it can be life changing, if one were to take their meaning in the most charitable way possible, does not feel like it's on topic here. Like, all this effort to be "neutral" on their part is not really coming across that way it's all just so damn clumsy. I try to always assume positive intent, not attributing to maliciousness (such as capital gain at the expense of creatives, which is one of the major problems with AI generated work) what can be better explained by ignorance, but even taking all that they've said in such a fashion, it largely feels like they didn't want people arguing about AI but also didn't want to have to make rules around AI that they would then have to, even if only in spirit, enforce. I can sort of understand that, considering it would be (most likely) impossible for them to differentiate between generated work and stuff that was written by a person. But again. They could have just said that it wouldn't be possible for them to police AI usage, blah blah blah, honor system (which again is already part of how NaNo works-- an honor system) but that targeted harassment campaigns of individuals for any reason would not be allowed within these spaces, up to and including suspected use of AI. Like there were so many different ways this could have been approached to accomplish what their stated goal was. Without??? Accidentally taking a very strange and not well thought out direct stance on AI that they later had to halfway walk back and apologize for. I don't think NaNoWriMo ever intended the message to be "We allow AI generated works now" (unless there's something I missed) -- That's not explicitly something they said, but rather the at large and reactionary interpretation of it. Now, I just have to wonder, what the hell happened to their September update post from last week, that was apparently addressing other issues. One thing I'll say for this whole mess, is it's at least amusing to watch the absurdity of their slow motion collapse hitting the speedrun stage toward total implosion. The org has had major internal problems for years now.

--

Honestly, I think the reaction is at least as much about longstanding issues with the organization as about people's fears of AI. Poorly thought out corporate idiocy feels in-character.

[riddles-fiddles]

hello asdfgsjdldkl this is a half fluffy half spicy request, how would you feel about writing a fem/gn mc who is autistic, but here’s the twist (lol)—their special interest is kink/bdsm? maybe they’re a bit shy about it at first since it’s not exactly something you just TALK about but one day they somehow end up infodumping? with Lilia, Idia, Vil, and Malleus, if that’s okay? (bonus points for mc being a sub ghjkslahsksl) (also if you’re not sure about how to write an autistic mc that’s totally fine, thank you for your service /gen ajshsjskdkl)

I tried to write this based on how my ADHD brain works with my special interests, so I hope this isn't as terrible lol also since you didn't say which kinks you'd like to see, I kept them a little bit more on the generalized side. If you'd like something more specific you can request again. Anyways thank you kindly for this lovely request, I had lots of fun writing it /gen <3

Synopsis: the boys are very intriguided to know about your secret special interest~ Characters: Vil Schoenheit, Idia Shroud, Malleus Draconia, Lilia Vanrouge Tags: NSFW, smut with context, bondage play, master/servant, power play, spanking/impact play Notes: gender neutral reader (unspecified body parts), everyone is 18+, excuse any grammatical errors,,,

•·.·''·.·•ˏˋ°•*•·.·''·.·•ˏˋ°•*•·.·''·.·•ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Vil looks down on you with an amused expression as you moan and buck your hips up, searching for the friction you so desesperately need from his hands. You were pressed against the couch with your wrists firmly tied up on your back and your legs held apart by the leather belts, your dripping arousal entirely exposed and unable to wiggle too much, keeping you on the edge of your climax as you relied on Vil's painfully slow and light touches. It all started from one of Vil's fashion jobs. Being one of Twisted Wonderland's most beloved supermodels, he was offered to take a catwalk under the name of a high-end brand trying to test a new niche of clothing and creative display: a mix of kinky props and everyday clothing, with emphasis on office attire.

Vil looks absolutely dazzling on his violet blue formal shirt, sleeves rolled up his elbows to expose the shoulder-lenght latex gloves. A black leather chest harness hugs his figure perfectly, highlighting his curves and accentuating his proportions, his clothing, paired with the sensual makeup, gave him a rather imposing, bossy feel - the perfect face of a dangerous temptation, especially for you.

So much you can't help but unload all the little details about harness fashion you know about, about how they can be used to better pick on certain body parts, how they can be used for bondage and how you would love to try some on-

"Hush now, my precious nightingale. I love it when you sing for me like that, but…" He coos softly, his breath tickling against the hot skin of your cheek as his fingers came to press against your lips, gently nudging them open; a taunt and a promise of something more to come. "…I would hate it if the agency's staff came into my dressing room to find you like this."

Your eyes widen, suddenly remebering that anybody could walk in on any second, curious about the amount of noise coming out of Vil's room. As you slowly part your lips to welcome his gloved fingers, you hear a low chuckle of satisfaction coming. "Good puppy," Vil's whisper melts on your ears like dripping honey as his fingers make their way between uour teeth, playing with your tongue. "You deserve a reward for being so well behaved."

"Y-you feel so g-good, darling…" Idia groans in contentment before slamming his cock deep inside you once more. A shaky, devilish laugh rolls off his tongue as he watches the way you struggle to keep you hand steady, trying your best to pour some tea without allowing even the tiniest drop to stain the sheets.

Idia was the one trying to suggest new things for you two to try out - on his own nerdy, embarrassed ways. He was too scared to openly admit his kinks, thinking that maybe you could find him a weirdo, so he would casually comment about something like he was just talking about the news, or even pointing out something unusual on a character from some anime.

However, Idia soon discovered about the hype of cat maid cafés, and as he 'innocently' showed you some of the recipes and how you could pick your maid's personality, he was surprised to see how it had sparked your interest, his face going alight as you passionately unravel about your love for cute maid outfits and how you do own one. Idia wasn't one to make bold moves, but that was just too good of an opportunity to let it slip away from his fingers, so he lightly suggests to see you with it…

And now you found yourself full-on roleplaying. Taking in the role of a humble, diligent maid to your master, you faced multiple challenges as Idia reveled on your misery, trying to keep yourself composed while serving him.

Idia's fingernails dig on your hips, pulling down on the black skirt as he bucks up against you, low gasps leaving his lips. You need to bite down on your lips to contain a curse, holding onto the teacup between your hands for dear life. "So cute and obedient…" You shiver at his praise, his voice laced with dark desire, pushing you down on his lap.

You are surprised by his hand possessively wrapping around your chin, forcing your face to turn to him. Before you can mouth any sound, he captures your lips, making your grip finally falter, droplets of tea splasing over Idia's legs.

"Oh no, seems like you've made a mess… better clean it up quick if you don't wanna be punished, huh?" He smirks with mischief, his pointy teeth grazing over your shoulder threateningly.

You shudder in antecipation under Malleus' firm grip around the back of your neck, pushing your face down into the sheets. His throaty growl lingers over your body, leaving goosebumps under your skin. "Mine," Malleus rasps, his teeth sinking down on your back, leaving behind a perfect mark. "And I'll make sure everyone knows who you belong to." Malleus is very curious regarding everything that involves human nature, entertained by even the simplest of things. It wasn't uncommon to find him nose deep inside books, drinking in the particularities of the ones so exquisite for his fae standards.

While spending the afternoon with you in Ramshackle Dorm, quietly fidgeting through your phones and simply enjoying each other's company, he accidentally looked over your smartphone right in time to catch you scrolling down on a Magicam post about 'power play'. His interest is immediately piqued, intrigued by whatever it meant; Malleus points it out, interested to know more about it, and as you eagerly explains what it means, Malleus nods and hums in understanding, his mind working out on this new discovery.

"That's a very exquisite concept. Tell me, Child of Man, would you be willing to give me a practical demonstration on the matter? I'm certain I could understand it better this way."

You tried to keep Malleus pinned down on the bed, your hands firmly wrapping around his wrists to keep him still. Your attempt in dominance only the Fae Prince, who effortlessly turned you to lay on your belly, restraining you by the arms. "Looks like I am the winner of this little dispute. Shall I indulge in my prize now?"

"Easy now, sugar bat. If you tense up too much, it will hurt even more." A low chuckle rolls off Lilia's tongue, mischief mixed with tenderness etched on his cherry-coloured eyes. The paddle on his hand slowly runs over your warmed thighs, the sensitive skin shivering and squirming under the rough leather feel, teasing and threatening to strike once more.

"Back in my day, those devices were used as torture tools to coax prisoners into talking about their secrets. Now, they are used in intimate rendezvous to give pleasure induced by pain." Lilia giggles, an innocent smile gracing his lips - a very fake one. The glint on his eyes suggesting some sly, hidden interest, like he wasn't just silently reading the fanfiction you were writing on your phone.

"So, you're interested on the complexities of pain and pleasure, huh? Would you like to indulge in a demonstration? I'll be more than happy to lead you into this forbidden experience, my dear." How could you deny such a confident, tantalizing suggestion? You knew a lot about the theoretical thing, having read a lot about fiction or even health-related articles about BDSM and impact play. Despite being shy about it, you knew you could trust Lilia.

"You're doing very well, sweetheart," Lilia's whisper is sweet and reassuring as his fingers gently thread between your locks, a soothing gesture in contrast to the dry impact of the paddle against your buttcheeks, marking the skin with a pinkish colour. The leather leaves a stinging sensation, making you gasp and squirm over Lilia's lap. He leans in to press a soft kiss on your forehead, a sly smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "Only ten more to go."

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @alwaysurvalentine! alwaysurvalentine has 11 fics in the Stranger Things fandom on AO3 and all of them are in the Steddie tag!

@dame-zoom-a-lot recommends the following works by @alwaysurvalentine:

bad days were meant to be shared

three strikes and you're out!

aquariums and sweethearts

"If I had to put an image to their fics… I'd say a warm blanket and a piece of cake.

Their slices of life fics get cooked with so much care and thought. A lot of them are my go-to when I'm feeling kind of off or lonely. They approach conflict with so much empathy and realism. No one's just shitty out of the blue with zero reason, and characters talk things out in a way that feels like how real people would talk. There's rarely clear villains or clean-cut forever happy-ending type resolutions in real life, and their fics shine at showing the beauty of that." -- @dame-zoom-a-lot

Below the cut, @alwaysurvalentine answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Honestly, I just really vibe with both of them as characters. It’s easy to draw some of my own parallels with how Eddie sees the world and Steve’s fall from grace within my personal life - so it’s nice to play around with characters who I can understand. Plus I love taking the “protectors” from the narrative and forcing them to allow others to care for them.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I’m a sucker for any type of soulmate au, the ones with soulmarks are my guilty pleasures. Just something about knowing there’s someone out there destined to care about you makes me feel all warm and fuzzy

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Anything slice of life or found family - I just love getting to give characters all the love and care they deserve. Especially when canon has put them through the ringer!!

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

With no cross to bear (these words just come out) by hitlikehammers https://archiveofourown.org/works/45052120/chapters/113340064 I come back to this fic again and again. Love their Eddie POV and all of the reactions from the party feel authentic and I just love a fic that really shows how much everyone cares about Steve (even if he doesn’t see it).

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’ve had a big idea about a possession type fic starring Eddie. It’s gonna be a big project though so it may be workshopped and shelved for another time while I work on some other stuff!

What is your writing process like?

Music is my biggest inspiration and I listen to Spotify all of the time (my spotify wrapped is about to be WILD), but usually I’ll get a spark of an idea from a song, scribble down a quick interaction I can see, and then once I get home it’s getting it all out on a doc. It usually takes me a few days to a week for me to get a fic where I want it, especially when the characters take things into their own hands for the narrative (I’m looking at Eddie and Robin here)

Do you have any writing quirks?

I actually write everything in red text until I decide I like the section. I have so many documents that have different colored text based on how I feel about it. Black means it’s ready to be proofread/don’t change, purple or blue for things I want to rewrite, and then red for what I’ve gotten down but isn’t edited/reviewed yet. Besides that I also go in thinking I’m going to keep it short and sweet and then I blink and we’re 2k in - but it’s been fun nonetheless!

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

If I’m doing a prompt challenge usually it’s as soon as I’m done (totally not because I finish the day of…totally not that) but other than that I have a personal schedule to have certain things done by, otherwise I’ll nitpick forever.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Three Strikes and You’re Out! It was super fun to play around with connecting baseball terms to DnD in a way that still made sense and wasn’t just a block of info text.

How did you get the idea for aquariums and sweethearts?

It was actually a little followup I did for another fic, where Eddie visited the aquarium with Uncle Wayne but wasn’t able to get the souvenir he wanted. And I wanted Steve to kinda complete that circle, plus I wanted them to have a moment where they could kinda be kids again.

When writing aquariums and sweethearts, what was something you didn’t expect?

I honestly didn’t expect it to be so long, I was just going to write a tiny follow up but got carried away with my own aquarium memories and research so I just kept wanting to add more and more

What inspired three strikes and you're out!?

I feel like I’ve seen a lot of fics where Steve meets Eddie halfway with his interests and I wanted to see the opposite. Like it’s one thing for Eddie to concede that being a jock isn’t so bad, but it’s another for him to go out and learn about a sport/something that doesn’t interest him at all, ya know?

What was your favorite part to write from three strikes and you're out!?

Oooh! Such a hard question, for me it’s a tie between the conversation Eddie has with Lucas and his conversation with Uncle Wayne. I just liked putting Eddie in a situation where he was the one learning, instead of being the one in charge/control.

How do/did you feel writing bad days were meant to be shared?

It was a little hard starting out, I knew a couple things I wanted to happen but besides that I really went in kinda blind. Once I got into the groove though, it felt like it just wrote itself. Steve knew what he was feeling and just guided me along.

What was the most difficult part of writing bad days were meant to be shared?

So fun fact, I actually wrote the first draft completely from Eddie's point of view. I was trying to find his voice (still feel like I’m working on this but progress is progress) but it just wasn’t flowing right and Dame-Zoom-A-Lot actually helped beta for me. They’re the one who suggested the point of view switch and it worked so well!!

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

A favorite scene I’ve written has to be in aquariums and sweethearts when Eddie and the Mime gang up on Steve to poke fun at him, it just felt like something Eddie would play along with and enjoy.  These couple of lines from Three Strikes and You’re Out! Make me really happy, like sent my friends a dorky screenshot because I liked them so much: “Eddie’s world narrows to the smell of Steve’s cologne, something that smells like rain on freshly cut grass and a hint of vanilla. Just as soon as Steve leaned in, he leans away, the sun painting orange and pink highlights in his hair when he tilts his head grinning.”

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m working on a Steve Harrington ‘character study’ from Hopper’s point of view currently and might be starting on an Anastasia AU starring Chrissy as Anya and Robin as Dimitri - super stoked for both of these!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Endless thanks to my nominator!! I just started posting for Steddie this August and it’s been unreal. So thankful for all of my new friends and can’t wait to share some more of my little ideas and chat with other people about their art and stories! <3

Thank you to our author, @alwaysurvalentine, and our nominator, @dame-zoom-a-lot ! See more of alwaysurvalentine's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[whats-she-gonna-post-next]

hi!

for the drabble can you do anything with snowbugs? :)

Ok... Listen... I know it has been over a month. I am so sorry. I got distracted. I hope that you accept these 1.8k words that I wrote as an apology.

Anyways, it's technically not snowbugs yet... But they are totally endgame, it will happen. Also feel free to imagine whoever you want as the fellow heroes and villains. I didn't really bother distinguishing them... Whoops

-

Scott’s hands shook, his breath shuttered in his chest, his blood roared in his ears, power pulled tight around his throat like a noose, his mind was racing.

It was too much. It was too soon. He’d told them it was too soon, that he wasn’t ready, and yet here he was.

“Pull back!” He heard the call of his squad captain, “He’s too dangerous!”

Scott shuttered, another wave of cold power pulsed through the warehouse they had been fighting in as he tried desperately to contain it.

He hated this.

You see, Scott was still new to this whole powers thing. For most of his life he, and everyone else around him, had assumed Scott didn’t have powers. Not exactly an uncommon occurrence in their world, though you were still more likely to end up with something mundane than nothing at all, however, so it was ever so slightly disappointing when he passed milestone after milestone without tried or trace of any sort of power. By the time he reached adult hood, he figured that was it. Developing a power after eighteen was uncommon enough, but a major one - that was practically unheard of.

Scott was 28 when he developed the ability to completely freeze anything with little more than the flick of his hand.

He had reported the development immediately to the government, as the had a mandated training program for people with powers above a certain level classification. He had gone in expecting to be trained on control, to learn how to go about his normal day again and leave. The more intensive hero program that was designed to allow individuals the ability to help fight against rogue power users was - as far as everyone was told - entirely voluntary, and Scott and no desire to do anything but return to his normal life.

He found out the hard way that voluntary had a much looser definition when a power is considered too strong or in particular demand. Sure, he had the choice to forego the program, but he would have been marked a rogue and likely sent to prison, so he agreed, and Smajor was born.

They fast tracked him through the program, skipping the basics and barely letting him get a grasp on how to marginally reign in the cold beyond focusing and keeping calm before thrusting him out into combat training.

It hadn’t been the worst, Scott had been learning how to focus his powers in calm environments and it had been going well, so long as he had no distractions.

Then they got the call that Tek was out with some other villains, causing problems, and Scott was sent out with a team to deal with him specifically.

Tek was, for all intents and purposes, the reason Scott didn’t get a say in joining the hero program. Strong elemental powers like his ice were rare, which while likely would have subjected him to pressures to join, Tek had his opposite in fire and they had no heroes with strong enough powers to go against it. At least until now.

Scott tried to protest, to tell his handler - and how he loathed that title - that he wasn’t ready for that level of fight. Hell, Scott was pretty well certain he wasn’t ready for team training exercises yet, but it didn’t matter in the eyes of the higher ups.

“Sometimes it’s sink or swim, kid,” He was told, “When the time comes, you’ll know what to do.”

Protests that he was going to sink going unanswered as he was stuffed into a far too regal looking blue and while suit, gold accents only calling more attention to him, and pushed front and center as other members of his team squared off and distracted other villains, until it was just Scott staring at Tek with barely hidden fear, and Tek returning the stare with bemused confusion.

Scott couldn’t breath as the noise around them grew. He knew what he should be doing, he knew that people were counting on him, but all he could focus on was the ever growing sense of terror as he stared at the flames that casually danced along Tek.

How was he supposed to fight him? The casual confidence of a man who had years to master his power verse the maybe six months Scott had had to do the same.

Everyone was relying on Scott, and he was going to fail.

He watched the bemusement slip from Tek’s face, turning to genuine confusion, realization, then - oddly enough - nervousness. He had opened his mouth to speak, but Scott made out none of what he said through the blood rushing in his ears. It wasn’t until he heard a curse from one of his teammates that he realized that a sheet of ice had been snaking out along the ground around him, small spikes of ice budding up in places without say.

“Dammit Smajor,” The angry tone broke through his revelry, “Focus! Them, not us!”

The words just make things worse, anxiety spiking, pulsing cold echoing the beating of his heart as it matched the frantic pace. Scott did his best to pull the powers back, trying to focus on breathing as several eyes turned towards him, tried to ignore the expectations piling on him.

“What the hell do you idiots think you’re doing?” Scott heard one of the villains ask, “Sending out a kid this green when he can barely keep a grasp on his own powers?”

Scott wants to laugh. Hadn’t he been asking the exact same thing? He pulled his arms across his body as if he can physically hold his powers in. All it does is cause ice to grow across his torso as he sinks to his knees. The ice seems to get worse, a small snow flurry begins, building rapidly inside the tiny warehouse.

Why can’t he just breath?

“Pull back, he’s too dangerous” The call is made and the bubble of laughter finally breaks through.

‘So much for avoiding jail time after this shit show,’ He thinks bitterly, laughter quickly turning to sobs. He just wanted to go home.

He distantly hears the sound of movement, can feel the disturbances against his ices as several people move to exit or take cover from the ticking time bomb Scott has become. He can hear the sound of heroes and villains alike arguing about him.

Oddly enough it sounds like the villains are the ones on his side, somehow.

In the midst of this, he is surprised by a warm hand on his shoulder. He flinches back, another wave of power emanates from him and he desperately tries to pull it in, focus it on himself as his looks up, meeting Tek’s eyes through his mask. Warmth and compassion shine through. He seems unaffected by Scott’s powers, any ice that gets near him melting. He doesn’t even shiver.

Scott envy’s him for a moment.

“Hey, Smajor was it?” He asks, casual as can be, as if Scott wasn’t actively turning the room into a walk in freezer. The absurdity of it gives Scott pause for a moment, and he finds himself nodding, “Nice to meet you, I’m Tek.”

“I- I know that,” Scott replies, confused, “I think most people know that.”

Tek smiles at him, and it’s so bright and warm that Scott wants to lean into it, to keep it there.

“I suppose the costumes a pretty big give away, isn’t it?” There is something soothing to his voice that calms Scott down some. The noose around his throat loosens, the next wave of power seems softer, “I can’t imagine that feels all to great.”

Tek gestures to where Scott’s hands are wrapped around himself, the shards of ice pressing into his sides, the tears in his own costumes it has made, “Do you want to maybe move your hands?”

He makes an aborted move to talk to hands but Scott pulls back some, hangs clenching tighter, causing him to flinch yet again.

“I can’t,” He admits, “I don’t- I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Tek’s eyes soften, but there is a determination there as well.

“It’ll be ok, you can let go,” His voice is unwavering and assured, Scott wants to believe him, “You won’t hurt me.”

Maybe it’s the fact that Scott knows what Tek’s powers are, knows how strong they are and how in control of them he seems to be, maybe it’s the look in his eyes, the determination and strength that bolsters his own in turn, maybe it’s just the fact that he is the first person who is telling him to let go instead of reign in, but Scott believes him.

Slowly, without breaking eye contact, Scott unclenches his hands from his sides, letting Tek gingerly wrap his hands around Scott. They are warm, warmer than anything Scott has held in a long time.

To be honest, Scott can’t remember the last time someone touched him for more than a moment, let alone held his hand.

It had to have been before his powers manifested, but even then, Scott didn’t have a ton of friends, and none of them had been very touchy-feely.

Was touch always this warm?

Was Scott always this cold?

“There you go,” Tek was smiling at him proudly, as if Scott had just accomplished some great task, “See, everything is fine.”

He is vaguely aware of the fact that the storm around them has calmed, his breathing stabilizing, adrenaline draining from his body, leaving him exhaustively swaying where he was kneeing. Without thought, Scott leaned forward, letting himself fall against the warm body in front of him.

To his credit, Tek doesn’t even flinch, catching him with ease and o=pulling him close.

He can hear others coming closer, but he can’t bring himself to care. He was tried and Tek was so so warm. He relaxed into him, eyes slipping closed as he barely listens to the conversation above him, registering little than Tek’s answers as they echoed against his ear, pressed to the soothing beat of his heart.

“Are we really surprised something like this happened?” Tek asked, voice rumbling soothingly through his chest, “Of course those idiots are so desperate to one up us that they would push someone harder and faster than they should and then run when it crumbles.”

There is more conversation overhead and Scott finds himself slipping into a daze before;

“Of course he is coming with us. We can’t leave him to those morons.”

The arms around him move, but before he can protest, they wrap around him differently, lifting him gently. Maybe he should feel worried, as he’s carted off by a group of villains, but Scott figures if they were going to hurt him, they’d have done in by now, so he leaves that to future Scott, and lets himself slip into sleep.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got you now.”

[apostatively]

About BioWare's Beef with "Fetch Quests" vs. Embrace of "Faction Quests"

[[Some minor spoilers in this post re: a few side quests in DA2 and DAI, and various routine faction quest events and requirements to get the "best" possible ending you're allowed to have in DATV.]]

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I think one of the things BioWare is missing about the transition to "no fetch quests ;DDD don't worry!" in Veilguard is that the vast majority of "faction quests" have mechanics that are far more mind-numbing to me than the majority of totally optional side quests in DAI/prev. games.

I am so tired of almost every Veil Jumpers quest being "look for missing people" > "oh no they're all dead" > "figure out how they died" > "return and tell the quest giver they're all dead".

It's so unimaginative. I'm so goddamn exhausted.

"Bob and Jill haven't come back from scouting these ruins! They should have been back by now-" They're dead. They are ALWAYS DEAD. I can save us all a lot of time and repetition by just telling you now. Something has killed them because the Magic-Is-Science Woods are full of ancient evils that are constantly killing everyone who goes in there, and yet we keep doing it, in large and eager groups. And expecting me, personally, to care about the lives of this faction who clearly don't have a bare-minimum thought for their own continued existence.

(Also: is it just me, or did the quest where everyone dies except for their pet nug, who you later learn VERBALLY SCREAMS if parted from its dead owner's belongings, feel weirdly offensive, like we weren't supposed to care about the people because rescuing the nug was the secret/real quest objective? Were we supposed to feel gratified that everyone died, but "at least" an animal was saved? They immediately snatch away that potential feeling of vindication too, in the resulting missive! Not a drop of dopamine to be had in that quest outcome, and there's no skipping it unless you want your companions to pay a hugely disproportionate price later.)

Even the shorter quests feel completely unnecessary, like when you first recruit Emmrich, an otherwise interesting and well-acted character who is doomed, like so many of the companions, to have his personal quest mechanics revolve around walking back and forth to fixed points within an area. I like the general idea of cute little wisps, but every time I have to double back to the entrance of an area, that I have already traveled through, just to grab a wisp and run all the way back, KILLS ME. I HATE it. There is no POINT to running through the area twice. "I have to get through this part because it's required to recruit this character" is in no way a fulfilling emotional hook.

In DA2, you were perfectly free not to interact with the random local magistrate who wants you to quietly recover his son. But the very pitch of the quest that he gives you is shady from the beginning, and if you decide to pursue it, you get the emotional payoff (depending on your choices) of removing a dangerous serial killer who is preying on marginalized children. This outcome makes the player feel good - like their time has been well-spent, that they are playing as a heroic figure in a fantasy adventure game. (And if they choose routes that are harmful, they potentially also have fun playing an "evil" character, as some folks find really amusing! There is still gratification involved, and it feels as though your actions in the game had a purpose.)

In DAI, you don't have to spend forever in the Hinterlands. Despite the prevalence of memes about this area of the game, you truly are not forced to stay there, you just have to do barely enough quests to accumulate a certain number of points denoting your influence in the area, so that you now have enough "power"/influence/reputation to proceed to the next step of the game where you speak with high-ranking individuals (valid story-relevant reasons). But here's the thing: often even the most simple of "fetch quests" in the Hinterlands has some degree of emotional payoff for the player. Like a lot of folks, I have a select few NPCs I want to interact with every single playthrough, because they have enough emotional depth to make an impression on me: I always get the Fantasy Asthma Medication from the estranged son of the woman with breathing trouble, and always feel sympathy for this family because of the son's reaction that he genuinely didn't know his mother was struggling while he's been away. I always place flowers on the grave of a woman at the behest of her widower, and track down the templars who murdered a woman's husband to retrieve his stolen wedding band, because that's just the kind of stuff that resonates with me. It feels like your character is doing good: you're starting to construct a persona for them of a local hero, if you so choose. There are emotional hooks to lots of side quests - but as above, for those who find them boring, you don't have to spend more than a bare minimum of time in this area. It's not a requirement, the way DATV's "faction quests" effectively are.

Long story long, you don't have to complete every single Hinterlands quest for your companions not to die at the end of the game. (In DATV, even as a completionist who is normally excited to find every easter egg a game has to offer, I found myself deeply resenting being basically forced to complete all the quests so that my companions don't die horribly...and then feeling cheated that you still can't save absolutely everyone, that a true "happy ever after" is impossible in DATV, even if you comply with the devs and finish their scores of side quests, knowing they have a gun to your favorite companions' heads.

It felt as though BioWare expected new players to the series to be able to resonate with this game immediately while also expecting the inclusion of B-list DA characters from their "neutral" world state in books and comics not everyone has read to be emotionally resonant enough for players to want to complete boring side quests just to please these NPCs (who you are allowed to interact very little with in the game). Unfortunately, the "new" players or returning ones who don't read or didn't care for the books and comics have zero reason to do this, and are far more likely to be punished by the game for not having an appropriate amount of "commitment" that simply is not inspired by the game itself.

TL;DR - replacing an abundance of optional "fetch quests", many of which are well-written with strong emotional hooks, but ultimately don't force players to complete them, with "faction quests" that lack emotional resonance and interesting mechanics but ARE required to be 100% completed to get a "good ending" to the game, is a huge step backwards for playability. It's troubling that the game writers/devs don't seem to understand that, or BioWare wouldn't be crowing about the "improvement" in removing "fetch quests" when they've simply rebranded them and made them less interesting and unskippable.

[thebreakfastgenie]

If you don't mind sharing, I would love to know what you think people get wrong about Toby and Josh! (this is not a trap, I have no strong feelings and am genuinely just interested)

Yeah totally!! So I will say I think within The West Wing fandom on tumblr people get these characters more right than the general audience.

Toby is just an incredibly complex character. I go even farther than most (including, like, Richard Schiff) because I don't think Toby is cynical at all. Maybe by the end of the show, but certainly not when we meet him and not throughout the first four seasons. Cynicism isn't really allowed to exist in the Sorkin West Wing. Toby is the most idealistic character on the show and he is the way he is because he is constantly disappointed and frustrated. The world never lives up to his expectations but he never adjusts his expectations. It goes beyond hope, he really does expect better because he genuinely believes the world or in some cases a person, e.g. Jed Bartlet, has a potential it's not living up to. That's why we meet Toby as a professional political operative who has never won an election, who puts his job on the line and alienates all his coworkers because he's so committed to what he believes is right. Toby is an uncompromising idealist, which is an exhausting way to exist, and it makes him depressed, which is why Andi can't live with him even though I believe she still loves him. I hate that in season 7 Bartlet claims Toby thinks of himself as morally superior and that he always knew this would become a problem, because the dynamic we're given in season 1 is that Bartlet thinks of Toby as morally superior and relies on him for that perspective.

Josh is a wildly popular character and one of the more consistently written characters in the show so just about everybody gets the broad strokes of him right, but I think he's prone to flanderization and the complexities of him are frequently missed. Josh isn't someone who loves dirty politics. He isn't really someone who will do whatever it takes to win; he's willing to do a lot, but there are certain lines he only tries to cross when he's really desperate and each time it's framed as an unusual choice for him and he tends to reflect on it with some discomfort afterwards. Josh is the pragmatist who knows someone has to get their hands dirty, and he does it not because he wants to but to keep the president and Leo and anyone else he's working for clean. He's motivated primarily by loyalty, but that in and of itself is idealistic. He defends Hoynes because he does see a good side to Hoynes, a side the audience gets to see glimpses of later. Josh does leave Hoynes for Bartlet because he's tired of Hoynes not living up to the potential he sees in him and he's infected by Bartlet's idealism, but it's a decision he feels guilty about for years afterward. I think people have a tendency to exaggerate Josh's ego, too. He beats his chest (literally) in private but he doesn't want public credit; the reason he doesn't want to be "the guy" is he doesn't have the ego for it. Josh is not self-centered at all and I think that's a big thing people miss about him. And his tendency to screw up or shoot off at the mouth is real but also exaggerated and when it does happen it's just as much an expression of frustrated idealism as Toby's choices.

I think the really crucial part that's often missed is the dynamic between Toby and Josh and their respective roles in the Bartlet administration. The reason Bartlet for America and later Jed Bartlet's presidency is successful is a balance between Josh's pragmatism and Toby's uncompromising idealism. The campaign needs both and Bartlet needs both perspectives. Leo recognizes that and brings him both and Josh and Toby, for all they butt heads, recognize it too. That's why everyone on the show has such an underlying respect for each other. CJ and Sam are crucial to the team too of course they just don't have neat narrative foils the way Josh and Toby do in each other.

[strawglicks]

Talking About Cathal's Flaws Because Why Not

cathal is my whole world my whole universe they are allowed to do anything they want they can end the world and i will stand by their side i adore them. ok now that i got that out of my system let me genuinely talk abt his flaws and analyze it a bit more in depth

To Be Real, He's Very Spoiled.

Now, it wouldn't be fair to demean Cathal to just some spoiled brat. But, to be fair, the only reason they've gotten as far as they have is because of their dad holding their hand through it all. Cathal's dad is the only reason he has a job, is the jr V.P, and hasn't gotten fired.

Their dad wrote their personal statement to ensure they were hired.

Their dad specifically makes sure, no matter how many disciplinary records they have, that Cathal doesn't lose their job. This line may actually imply that they HAVE almost lost their job (which makes sense due to the amount of rules they've broken) but their dad stopped it from happening.

Not to mention, even when made aware of his son slacking around, Allan straight up lies to management. He claims he'll disconnect the cable immediately, but according to the following lines in Cathal's battle:

...Allan didn't do anything about the cable like he said he would.

Due to all this, it makes sense Cathal is spoiled. They just have their whole future handed to them on a silver platter without them even needing to try. And because they're not even given the chance to learn, grow, or develop new skills, they wind up rather depressed and apathetic. Which leads me to another point.

Cathal is Extremely Apathetic/Careless, Which Affects Themselves and Everyone Around Them.

A huge aspect of Cathal's character is his laziness, procrastination, and carelessness. But I think it's important to dive into the "why" of these qualities.

Like I said before, Cathal has their career handed to them without even lifting a finger. There are several times he slacks off, doesn't show up to work, doesn't DO his work, etc., yet he keeps his job because of his dad and nothing is done about these problems. This is likely one of the biggest reasons he's so apathetic and doesn't care to get around to his work anyway. If there are no consequences, what's the point of following the rules?

And that's where most of this behavior drives from. "What's the point?"

If the toons won't attack Cathal, what's the point of Cathal attacking the toons?

If their dad just keeps getting repaired, what's the point of destroying him in the first place?

What is the point of any of this?

Cathal seeking a meaning and finding none leads to their apathy and carelessness, which then causes them to slack off and make things harder on their fellow coworkers. This is shown in things like this comic, featuring a skelecog who's overworked just to do a simple, minimal effort task just because Cathal didn't feel like it.

What's the point of doing ANY work when he can have someone else do it instead?

Which leads me into another point-

Cathal is Quite Selfish and Doesn't Value Anyone's Time But His Own.

There are several instances of Cathal being pretty self-centered, specifically about their time being wasted. Almost like a certain someone...(graham. its graham. im talking about graham. these two are like two sides of one coin but thats another post for another day)

Many of these instances can simply be found in their fight dialogue.

They give total attitude when you interrupt their shows, rushing to get back to it because they find it much more important than their actual job: fighting the toons.

They're shown to generally be impatient and rude whenever they feel their time being wasted. (This handful of lines also displays some of Cathal's attitude and snarkiness, which I think goes WAY unnoticed in the community)

Cathal doesn't even seem to have any shame in the fact he wastes time. As a matter of fact, he almost seems prideful of it, like no one seems to understand how pointless this all is except for him. It almost gives him a bit of an ego (almost like a certain someone.)

That All Being Said, I Don't Think Cathal Has Any Malicious Intent.

I think they're young, spoiled, and inexperienced in the workplace. Their only real jobs have been helping their dad with small chores around the office rather than working for a massive company as a whole (not to mention being next in line as Jr. Vice President of said company. it's a lot of responsibility to spring onto someone so inexperienced, and it's a big responsibility to just hand to someone who clearly has no interest or passion in it.)

Cathal's never been given a real chance to find something to be passionate about, or given any real motive to be passionate about the things he DOES have. I don't think it's an excuse for him to sit back and make everyone else's lives harder, but it is an explanation.

I think Cathal is an important character to mention when discussing Cogs. Inc and how capitalist companies like this tend to destroy people. All it's done for Cathal is drain him of any passion or motivation whatsoever, if he had any before. The one thing he seems to be passionate about is his Dad, which is why he puts up with all this in the first place.

Anyway that's all I had to say. Cathal's an extremely important character to me, my absolute top favorite from TTCC (alongside Graham) and is heavily underappreciated and underdiscussed.

Here's a drawing I made a bit back of Cathal gaming because. This has been sitting in my files and I haven't found an excuse to post it LMFAO

[splanana-bitz]

Apologies to my mutuals (or anyone else that cares) but I really need to disappear from the internet for a little bit, at least until post-election panic somewhat calms down.

I stressed myself out way too bad this past week or so, thanks to doom-scrolling, and will only worsen it if I stay online right now. But a few words of advice for my friends, mutuals, or anyone who needs to hear this (even if it's already been said):

We don't know for sure what will happen. Yes, I know it's scary to think about the possibility of Project 2025, but as far as I know, it feels, at the very least, mildly unrealistic, and I doubt that congress, senate, etc. would let half the shit on this project slide. We have ammendments and documents for a reason (to help prevent total control). We just have to trust that these people have half a brain to realize how unconstitutional Project 2025 is. Yet, am I fully certain it won't happen? No. If anything, there is still a likely chance it will. But all you can do is just hope and do NOT dig yourself into a hole of "what ifs" and doom scenarios. Be prepared and keep tabs, but please do NOT make your sadness and stress worse.

In the potential event that it does get implemented and push comes to shove; Retaliate. Fight back. Protest. Do whatever you can do to push back against it. Idk how effective this method is going to be this time around, but in the end, doing something is better than nothing. People before us had to do it, and we shouldn't be the generation that just gives up and lets it happen. You're allowed to be angry and sad, but please don't let it render you incapable. Be sad and angry WHILE fighting back. Don't ever, EVER give up.

Quit doom-scrolling. It's been said before, but if you are beyond belief stressed, please- Get off social media for a while. Take a walk. Pet your dog, cat, bird, etc., eat your comfort foods, watch your favorite media, indulge in your productive hobbies or other fixations that bring you joy.

Please don't let defeatism win. And I know it's hard right now, but please do NOT. GIVE. UP. There is still hope and if not for yourself, at least keep going for others and to see the end of whatever this presidency will bring (cos again, nothing for certain has been decided yet). Outlive whatever enemy it is we may deal within these next 4 years.

Trump cannot and should not be able to run again after his presidency is over in 2028, due to the 22nd ammendment. I know that feels like an incredibly long time away, but once these next 4 years are over, Trump shouldn't and can't have that power anymore. It is horrifying to think of what may come, but the hope is perhaps we can do damage control once he's out of office if he ends up fucking things up to that bad of a degree.

Idk...maybe this isn't helpful- Maybe Idk what I'm talking about, but I'd rather leave some of you with this than leave in a panic.

I wish everyone a good day/night - Take care of yourself - Don't give up and don't stress yourself out - Let's just hope for the best, do what we can, live for today, and 'fuck it, we ball.'