#extreme mode badge

[fanfic-reading-challenge]

Announcing 2022's participants...!

(If you haven't submitted your participation form yet, you still can, with no time limit --- we're on the honour system here, so if you read it in 2022 and did the challenge and say you did, feel free to use one of the appropriate badges you rightfully earned. Even if you don't submit the form. I trust ya!)

Due to some lack of foresight and inexperience with using Google submission forms, there may be some mistakes made, people placed in the wrong categories, so please let me know so I can fix it asap!

As for the ones who have submitted already, here they are (if they chose to allow me to mention them)!

If you didn’t submit your spreadsheet, have no fear! Just grab the appropriate badge and call that that. As we say here: it’s all on the honour system here!

Please excuse me if I missed your name. Let me know as soon as possible so I can add it!

1. Participation

@sparkylurkdragon

2. Regular Mode

@found-nomad

@rainbow-mug

@dchelyst

@harry-potterfanatic

@s6xtaespada

3. Hard Mode

@reallybadfeeling

@onceuponaswanqueen

4. Extreme Mode

@juuls

@jandjsalmon

@dayenurose

Oh? What's this? Surprise milestone awards???

Hang in for a new post where we will grant a few special prizes for things such as most words read and ships/fandoms read in 2022, along with some others. I look forward to announcing those!

And.... here are the badges!!! … by, well, me. Tada!

Thank you for your patience everyone! We had some issues with receiving the art from the original artist, so I had to improvise late last night. I hope they’re at least somewhat nice looking, even if not as spectacular as last year’s! If/when we hear from the artist, we will either replace this year’s 2022 badges or will keep them for future use for the 2023 challenge badges.

If you would like a personalized one with your name on it, I may be able to do so.😊 I can at least give it a try! 😜 These won’t necessarily work as profile pictures (maybe?) due to the text and contrast but I certainly will give it a go. 😁

They’re not perfect, but I still wanted to give you something special for being such amazing people and participating in my small event. Thank you so very much! So very much. 🙏🏻❤️💜💙🥰

[hijackalx]

BG3 CHARACTERS REACTING TO BEING CALLED DADDY/MOMMY +18

characters included: karlach, astarion, halsin, gale, gortash

KARLACH

LOVES being called mama/mommy. probably suggests that you call her that before you can even bring it up

kind of plays into the caregiver role but only to an extent. it definitely feels like a character she shifts into. plays it VERY good though

usually something she reserves just for sex. if she calls herself mommy otherwise it’s probably in a nonsexual, playful manner (unless she’s teasing, which will be VERY obvious)

on the other hand…. if you call her mommy outside of sex….. she will be acting accordingly (your hole is getting obliterated promptly)

really, REALLY sweet when she goes into mommy mode 😭 like i don’t think could be a hard dom mommy if she tried. the two just don’t mix for her. consists of lots of praise and kisses and cooing

ASTARION

i’m sure he’s heard it before, but it’s different coming from you. he’s definitely taken aback at first. has to think about how he feels about it LMAO

makes him feel old af 😹😹 but he’s lowkey a sucker for an age gap dynamic so he has mixed feelings

eventually accepts how hot it is. once he sees you falling apart beneath him whimpering “daddy, daddy, daddy—“ his soul is SNATCHED !!!!!!!

loves to refer to himself as daddy to see your reaction— SO obsessed with the effect it has on you. he thinks it’s so sweet. will also use it to get you to do what he wants (using his powers for evil fr)

honestly wouldn’t have thought to introduce it to your relationship but he’s literally a natural. he already has the patronizing soft dom thing down so it flows pretty easily 😹💗

GORTASH

THE DADDY OF ALL TIME. DO NOT EVEN SPEAK TO HIM IF YOU AREN’T GOING TO BEGIN AND END EVERY SENTENCE WITH “DADDY”

refers to himself as daddy CONSTANTLY. will also do it outside of sex. literally a cringe discord daddy dom. but like. sexy. (will call you kitten)

HARD and MEAN daddy dom. can occasionally be sweet with it during aftercare though— “daddy’s so proud of you”

hearing you call him daddy makes him sooo weak. you can honestly get him to do anything for you if you whine “daddy” in a needy enough tone 😈 bonus points if you call him daddy in public. 100% wants everyone to know that you call him that

also super into the sugar daddy thing. loves to shower you in gifts and money. definitely a prominent dynamic in your relationship

GALE

legit stops him in his tracks. he’s like a deer in headlights. has no idea how to react LMAO

never considered himself daddy material before. he’s excited that you do though (he’s pumping his fist in the air and whispering “yesss” 😹😹) it’s a huge compliment for him

kind of awkward using it during sex at the beginning, he just doesn’t want to sound weird or anything. but if you encourage him he gets more confident with it and it’s so, so good

has such a good personality for it in terms of attentiveness/caring for you. plays daddy extremely well but he’d never admit it (still doesn’t believe he’s daddy material 😹)

gets SO flustered if you call him daddy in front of other people. even though he thinks it’s super hot he’d prefer for it to stay your little secret— it’s kind of sexier that way anyway

HALSIN

the most normal about being called daddy. doesn’t think it’s some huge deal or anything— he’s heard it before and it doesn’t phase him

integrates it into your sex life really smoothly (and into your everyday life if you want that). doesn’t care at all if people overhear and lowkey can embarrass you with how much he will readily refer to himself as that in public 😹😹 if you wanted him to wear a badge that said “[name]’s daddy” he would LMAO

always coming up with ways to get you to say it during sex, usually offering some kind of reward for it if you catch my drift 😼

the best at the caregiver role. does it so casually and it seems very normal for him. has such a good, soothing tone of voice for it too

the only downside is that it almost feels like he’s not as into it as you are. i mean he is but he’s so lax about it because he’s just like “kink is normal who cares !!” but like damn a little enthusiasm PLEASE

[tf2heritageposts]

So, there’s been a big buzz about Team Fortress 2 after the prodigal son of Comic 7 came to us, and ya wanna know what the buzz is about, hm? this post will be a guide to the basics of getting into tf2, and becoming more familiar with the fandom, from a dude who's been in it for bout fourish years

INTRO

Well, to start things off, TF2 is a game created by Valve in 2007, aka the creators of the video game marketplace Steam and the extremely popular video games Half-life and Portal. There are also some theories that they all exist in the same universe, but this only is canon to HL and Portal some people will say it also contains tf2 but ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The video game is free on Steam, that is with a massive asterisk as it does contain in-game purchases with real money,for  which you have to purchase a pass at 2 dollars to be able to talk in game or use voice commands. Valve says this is to protect against bots but the bot problem has been over for months and it still hasn’t been solved so what are ya gonna do? For much cheaper, you can go into the mann co store in game and purchase a vitasaw for .22 cents and viola you can talk now!

Something to note is that you do not need to play the game to engage with the fandom. I’ve been running a semi-popular TF2 gimmick blog for almost three years now and I’ve noted that maybe 20-30% of the fandom has never touched the game or even has steam. All of the fancy lore is purely supplemental material found outside of the game through comics, and you could easily just watch videos containing all of the voice lines if you truly wanted to know what the men you were drawing and writing sounded like. 

THE ACTUAL GAME

Regardless, TF2 itself is a first-person shooter with game modes such as payload, king of the hill/control points, and capture the flag if you’re feeling spicy. If you’ve played overwatch, this is that but it won’t trigger epilepsy by playing it. There's also alterate gamemodes such as payload race where both teams are trying to get a payload to the other side, medieval mode where basically any guns are banned and you are slapping people with swords and fish, as well as pass time which nobody plays but has an extremely obscure and complicated achievement attached to it.

There are also community servers where there are extensively more options for playing, such as casual+ servers where the goal is creating a “better” version of the casual servers. This usually means no crits, changes to bullet spread, aka stuff most non comp players Within these community servers, there's many different gamemodes you can play, such as 10x servers where the damage weapons do gets increased 10x 100x 10000000000x etc etc. There are also “fun” servers where the server owner has put about 100 different plugins and you are just having fun non-serious times. It’s fun. 

There are way more community game modes out there for you to enjoy; such as vs Saxton Hale/freak fortress, dodgeball, prop hunt, and plenty more. Explore that community tab to your heart's desire :]

Also! TF2 has a game known as Mann vs Machine(usually called MVM) where you and six other people all kill thousands of robots who are trying to get a bomb to the other side of the map throughout multiple rounds. It’s good fucking fun man. If you want the chance for loot/an extremely rare form of a weapon if you play a map enough, it’s 72 cents per ticket…….but if you don’t care and just want mindless fun, go boot camp and play for free. Boot camp also has way more maps, and often has charity drives hosted by the community where you can earn a neat little badge.

The game also has an extensive player player-driven economy, but unless anyone asks for a post with the basics since I know more about the economy than I’d like, I’ll just say you don’t need to worry about it. lollichop stocks

THE VIDEOS

Now, for the part, most people know about TF2, aka the Meet the Team series of videos. These are a series of 1-3 minute videos on the Valve YouTube channel that introduce the mercs through a consistently inconsistent format. A few of the videos are formatted like an actual interview with the mercs, while others are formatted more like mini TV shows. They’re all wonderfully entertaining and the source of multiple extremely popular memes, meaning even if you don’t know it you’ve been exposed to the videos before. Most famously, it’s the source of the “professionals have standards” image as well as “he could be any one of us”.  It’ll take you around 15 minutes to binge all of the videos. Even if you aren’t interested in getting TF2, I’d heavily recommend watching the videos due to how funny they are, plus genuinely good-looking 3d animation. The link is right here

There’s also Expiration Date, aka the pilot of the canned TF2 adult swim show. It’s also up on the valve’s channel and is around 15 minutes. It is probably one of the best things Valve has made for TF2, as well as being probably one of the most quoted shit on this godforsaken internet. It’s where the “dear god, there’s more” meme is from. Watch it. Right now. it's only like 15 minutes, what else are you doing with your time?

THE COMICS

This is where all that juicy lore is. Over the last 17 years, the valve has released free comics to go along with the major updates of TF2, as well as a main series of comics called “mann co no More”. The last comic in this series, which only took about 7 years to come out, aka the length of time someone could have a child and then have that child be in elementary school, was released a few weeks ago as of writing out. 

Something to note is that while the update comics are all mostly goofy and do contain some *very important lore*, they’re not serialized and can be from anywhere within the TF2 timeline. Meanwhile, Mann Co No More is a serialized comic and is trying to be a consistent story. It’s an extremely goofy story with about 40% serious and genuinely interesting plot and 60% whatever the fuck soldier is doing at any given moment

It’s all very good fun. Fair warning though if you try to become a TF2 loremaster you will go insane. I sure as hell did. 

And now that you have all of the official stuff out of the way, it’s time for

TF2 YOUTUBERS

For your beginner in the fandom, there are three main YouTubers I would personally recommend 

Lazypurple, my personal favorite TF2 YouTuber, is most famous for his series of videos “How it FEELS to play __” where he goes over what it's like to play any given class. Except medic. He’s still working on that one. Give him time. https://www.youtube.com/@LazyPurple

Another I’d recommend is Soundsmith, most well known for his guide series on playing the soldier subclass(aka alternate game style) of troldier. And also his cosmetic stereotypes series but he doesn’t like that one these days. He also has a series of videos called “A mann’s guide to the __” where he goes over a more obscure or not very used weapon in TF2. Don’t let the title fool you, it is in no way an actual guide. As a quick warning, Soundsmith sometimes uses the R slur in his older videos. He no longer uses it but just as a warning. https://www.youtube.com/@SoundSmithTF2/videos

Finally, there’s Uncle Dane, most famous for his guides on playing Engineer in the most optimal way possible. If you want to main Engie or even have a passing thought about playing him ever, watch him. https://www.youtube.com/@UncleDane

For some other picks on favorite tf2tubers of mine:

jontohil2: https://youtube.com/c/Jontohil2 most famous for his spy psychology series and guides on playing spy

solar light: https://youtube.com/@SolarLight?feature=sharea most famous for his guides on playing the subclass demoknight and also being the best demoknight player par noneelmaxo https://youtube.com/c/elmaxoTF2 most famous for trying to manipulate the steam marketplace that one time and for his playing 100 hours series. He’s retired nowadays but his videos are still good.

and now

TF2 FAN CONTENT

Sfms: 

Source Filmmaker, AKA SFM, is a free animation software developed by Valve originally developed for use in the Meet the Team series of videos that is available for public use. The main draw to the software is the ability to make (easier) 3D animation using premade models that are either built into the software or added in through the steam workshop. Due to TF2 and various other valve properties being built into the software, TF2 is often used as placeholder models for SFM videos. But a good chunk of the SFM community are TF2 fans using it to make fancontent(the most famous ones I will get into later)

Some personal favorite SFM makers mine are:

The winglet https://youtube.com/c/tf2thewinglet most famous for winning every saxxy ever

kostamoinen https://youtube.com/@Kostamoinen?feature=sharea most famous for nothing in particular but just generally being a very good sfm maker

https://www.youtube.com/@SilentManJoe/videos most famous for animating for lythero and not being someone you should watch if you’re under 18 generally

And for some underrated picks:

Misan - https://www.youtube.com/@Misantropico

Hotpockette- https://www.youtube.com/@hotpockette/videos 

Colonel fantzipanzen- https://www.youtube.com/@ColonelFanzipantzen/videos

GMOD:

Garry’s Mod,, AKA Gmod, is a sandbox game made as a mod of half life 2. It’s not meant to be an animation software, but dude to some extensions you can download off the workshop, it can be used as a stop motion software with the ragdolls in the game. This is how people animated before SFM was a thing by the way.

GMOD is most famous for being the source of the most batshit tf2 shit you’ll ever see that also doubles as humorus body horror. TF2’s early fandom humor was based off of gmod. And before you ask, skibidi toilet is an SFM series, not gmod despite the similar humor. 

The most famous GMOD maker is stblackst, who makes some of the highest quality shit you can make in GMOD. However, he often uses the r slur and some of his videos contain some extremely uncomfortable jokes, but unfortunately that’s how it is sometimes. 

Another famous and classic gmod creator is thatgraycartoonpony, most famous for his video “Pyro Paints” that showed everyone that you CAN make pyro funny and expressive. Some of the best. 

Finally in our most famous gmod creator trinity, there’s eltorro64rus, most famous for his absolutely insane gmod videos even for gmod. He’s a classic https://youtube.com/c/Eltorro64Rus

For my personal favorite picks:

Dasmashidx- https://www.youtube.com/@DamashiDX

Crazyscoutfin- https://www.youtube.com/@CrazyScoutFIN

Alxium- https://www.youtube.com/@Alxium

Gooserious- https://www.youtube.com/@GooSerious

FAN GAMES:

Something that’s not talked about a lot for some reason!

The two main fan games I’ll discuss here are both by germanpeter on gamejolt

Overtime- https://gamejolt.com/games/overtime/255028

This one of germanpeter’s two crossover tf2 games. Here it’s a crossover of TF2 and Undertale. A legitemtnly fun experience and a good undertale fangame. Fair warning, the sprites are vaguely terrifying.

Midnight Mercenaries- https://gamejolt.com/games/midnightmercenaries/375928

Another crossover game, this one being a crossover of TF2 and Hotline Miami. One of the most fun fan games ive ever played period. Fair warning, if you know what hotline miami is like tone wise, it’s carried over here. Ending may be a bit too angsty and depressing for some people.  

Capture the Intelligence- https://gamejolt.com/games/gmod-capture-the-intelligence/850383

This one is not made by germanpeter! It’s a short horror game with heavy early 2010s gmod inspiration and is pretty goofy. I haven’t personally played it due to time, but I’ve  heard it’s good.

and now

FANDOM ESSENTIALS

Emesis Blue (and Spy’s disguise)

Emesis blue is a horror film created by the studio Fortress films that came out in 2023. It is one of the most popular sfms in the TF2 fandom ever, and is a full length movie. Seriously, it’s two hours long. I don’t wanna spoil it but I promise it’s good.

However, it’s technically a sequel to another Fortress Film SFM called spy’s disguise. This one is only 20 minutes, and much more humorous than Emesis blue. It is full of body horror though whoops! I would recommend watching it beforehand though. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MiJWNkmWfs - spy’s disguise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0ODG8bFme0&t=4s - Emesis blue

Pootis Engage 

A sfm two part series by the wonderful ceno0 that completely changed the SFM landscape. It is so fucking well animated I can’t stress this enough. It is also extremely horny so I’d only watch if you’re of age. 

Pootis engage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl6lee2wyPQ&list=PLvgjnNWlcA0x_WMVzuZquKYwTFVbiBekn&index=1&t=144s&pp=iAQBPootis engage// extreme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGJBUauU-CE&list=PLvgjnNWlcA0x_WMVzuZquKYwTFVbiBekn&index=2&t=134s&pp=iAQB

The Heavy is Dead

Aka that video we as a fandom are annoying about. A video by the wonderful gmod creator Delak, who doesn’t really do TF2 nowadays, you need to watch it. Not optional sorry

Freak Fortress:

Have you been wondering what the hell is up with those weird edgy looking versions of Tf2 characters? And why some of them consider communion to be literally eating Jesus’s flesh? 

Well, Freak Fortress is a  community of people who make videos using GMOD with community created characters called “Freaks”. You know how SPC is a community/fandom of people who make SPCS and then everyone uses SPCS in their own stories and whatnot? It’s like that. The freaks are usually mercs with specific cosmetics or alterations to their models that act as their own chracters rather than being the mercs.

The most famous ones being

Painis Cupcake - https://tf2freakshow.fandom.com/wiki/Painis_Cupcake

Christian Brutal Sniper- https://tf2freakshow.fandom.com/wiki/Christian_Brutal_Sniper

And Christian Pure Spy- https://tf2freakshow.fandom.com/wiki/Christian_Pure_Spy 

You may notice I linked wiki pages and not videos or playlists. This is due to a few reasons

CPS’s videos are all taken down and you have to watch them through archived channels now, which are pretty hard to find with youtube’s shitty search engine

So many people make different videos with just these three characters, it’s better just to look at the video section of the wiki pages and go through there

If you wanted to get into Freak Fortress, I’d reccomend finding a freak you like on the wiki and then binging all of the videos linked on their page. 

My two personal favorites: 

Soldine -  https://tf2freakshow.fandom.com/wiki/Soldine

Polish Soldier- https://tf2freakshow.fandom.com/wiki/Polish_Soldier

Lil Pootis:

A cute little kind of extremely dark at some points 2d animated series of tf2 videos by the wonderful Quazies. The series is going to be completed for good soon, but as of right now there are nine videos 

and that should be about it. if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. or if you want any gmod reccomendations. i fucking love gmod woo

[ceilidho]

OBSESSED with how you wrote soap as a big feral man in country road I WOULD EAT HIM UP I WOULD GNAW ON HIM just that little glimpse has me dead

(If you ever thought of doing spin offs with the other boys I would truly do anything for that. no pressure of course I am content with this absolutely delicious fic 💛💛)

love you forever thank you for your big beautiful brain 🫡

in my head, he and Ghost are reformed outlaws who were done right by Price and decided to stick around. Sometimes Ghost feels extremely uncomfortable wearing a badge and Soap refuses to wear his at all, but they’d do just about anything for Price.

I don’t have a huge amount of lore for Soap in my head, but I imagine he was born in Scotland around the mid 1860s and was orphaned at a young age. Wound up in London somehow by his early teens, where he worked as a chimney sweep and was probably a bit of a pickpocket (he’s been in survival mode since he was born). I think eventually he may have been run out of England altogether and somehow forced to take the long voyage to America.

Even years later, he’s still half feral. He has a comfortable life now and a job and people that care about him, but he hasn’t quite shaken his nasty habit of pinching anything easy enough for him to steal.

[churino]

Design for earth mode prowl

After Barricade's betrayal, this boy goes through some stuff, barry's reveal left prowl barely clinging to life, and in need of some soul searching, luckily he found it in master yoketron's teachings, when he returns to the autobots a changed man, hes ready to show them why it's his face they wear on their badges

Initially, prowl could be best described as "the fun police" strict and humorless. He trusts no one and has no friends. He has "confidants" in ratchet and barricade sharing many of his secrets with them, secrets that barricade took advantage of.

Prowl suspected Barricade of double dealings, but deep down in his spark, even though he puts on a stoic facade, he really did care for him and couldn't bring himself to face the truth because in his head he fostered the idea that he and Barricade were the only autobots willing to sacrifice their morals for the greater good, and that they were in a way more nobel than the rest, infallible even if others didn't see it that way

But it all blew up on his face

And whole body, Barricade's betrayal, had prowl fall into a trap set up by flamewar with a nuclear bomb the decepticons had stolen, trapped in an unknown location he was only able to warn the autobots to evacuate the sorounding area, while attempting to disarm the bomb, inexperienced with earth explosives he was unable to stop the bomb from going off but was able to limit it's explosive wield using the same substance inside transformer's bodies that stops their energon from blowing up,

The explosion that followed didn't wipe out a city, but it did leave prowl damaged and buried under rubble that stopped the autobots from finding his body. Or at least that's what they thought, in truth they didn't find his body because somebody else got to him first

Nightbird and her lackeys saw a wounded autobot and saw an opportunity for a biology lesson, but first, they took a look inside his mind, finding all sorts of juicy secrets, which allowed them to build their first transforming vehicon, however, they didn't seem to quite understand how the minds of transformers work as they accidentally left a way for prowl's mind to transfer into this new body, it didn't really matter to them as they got what they wanted out of him. so prowl was able to fight his way out of their warehouse with nothing but his entire sense of identity and worldview shattered :D

After prowl escapes capture by the tires of nightbird, runamuck and runabout, he reflects on all that has happened to him thus far on earth and enters a deep depression, the body reflects the mind and he ends up developing gold plastic syndrome, becoming extremely fragile feeling ashamed of himself, he abandons the rest of the crew to wander the earth in search of new meaning in life. In this state, he's stuck in vehicle mode as attempting to transform in this state would have his knees turn to dust, he's weak, vulnerable, and lost. And it is metalhawk and the cyberninjas who find him.

Prowl finds new meaning under the cyber ninja clan, becoming yoketron's brightest student. Now, a skilled infiltrator and spy, knowing exactly how guards usually behave and able to adapt to any countermeasures. he's shrunken, but he's now able to defeat foes 100 times his size.

he returns to the autobots a changed man, but he no longer operates within their hierarchy, similar to a mercenary, but he doesn't actually charge his friends, and he can call them his friends now!, and like that he remains, fighting alongside the autobots till the very end.

Of course, his rise hasn't come without... enemies, the spurn rival road rocket, his ex parther barricade, and after regaining contact with the autobots, he makes an enemy out of a certain spider trying to pick on the little guys

[imadeitworseyourwelcome]

TFP Predacon Smokescreen AU

A loud hiss of air roused him from unconsciousness. His legs, unprepared to carry the weight of his frame, gave out. He stumbled and fell forward, but gentle hands caught and guided him to the ground.

He blinked rapidly, his blurry surroundings slowly came into focus. He was in a small, dimly lit room, a cool mist hung in the air.

A voice spoke softly, "Easy now,"

He looked up to its origin, a tall older mech with a grey beard. They met his eyes with a soft smile, "I am Alpha Trion. What is your designation?"

"I'm Smokescreen... where am I?" The opposite wall of the room was floor to ceiling with shelves of datapads.

"Iacon, hall of records,"

"...Iacon?" That couldn't be right... he knew better than to go near that place. He searched his memory but he couldn't remember how he got here...

"We do not have much time," the old bot said, shaking their head slightly, "I wish I could explain everything..."

Smokescreen could make out distant rumbling of gunfire and explosions.

His eyes widened, "What's going on?"

"The decepticons have launched a massive surge that has wiped out the last line of defense surrounding Iacon."

"Decepticons?" Smokescreen quietly echoed the unfamiliar word, "I don't understand."

"After everything you've been through-" he was cut off by another explosion, closer this time. The room shook, sending datapads raining to the ground.

Whatever was coming was getting close.

"..As you can see, we are short on time," Alpha Trion looked at him with sorrow, "I am sorry to have to ask this of you, to drag you into our war.."

War?

Smokescreen tensed, pulling away from the old bot, "What?"

"You must take this," he presented a golden object, "and deliver it to Optimus Prime,"

"Why would I help you?" Smokescreen flared his plating, "I don't know who you are- I don't know what's going on-" he snapped.

"This is not for my benefit, if the decepticons get ahold of this relic, cybertron will truly be lost." He insisted, "You are a powerful cybertronian, I trust that you can keep it from falling into the wrong hands."

"No. I won't." Smokescreen growled, "I don't want to be part of your war!" he took a step back and started to transform. But his plating had barely started to shift before he cried out, doubling over in pain.

Alpha Trion moved to his side, and placed a hand softly on Smokescreen's trembling shoulder, "What did you do to me?" Smokescreen hissed up at him.

Alpha Trion's expression softened, "You... have a mode lock on,"

Smokescreen stiffened, then pushed him away. His door wings knocked against the something behind him.

A quick glance over his shoulder revealed the source of the cold mist still hanging in the air. An open stasis pod.

"Bring this to Optimus, and he will help you get it removed,"

"As long as I do what you say?" He growled

"I know he would help you either way." Alpha Trion sighed, "You do not deserve this fate," he said gesturing to the stasis pod he had come out of. "Once you deliver this, you are free- you do not have to fight our war."

Smokescreen narrowed his eyes, "Remove it first." He demanded

"I cannot. I do not have the skill nor time to remove it here."

The room shook, gunfire was extremely close now. Alpha Trion pressed the key into Smokescreen's hands with a final pleading look.

"Fine." Smokescreen snarled as he took the key. He gritted his teeth, the mode lock pulled as he tucked the relic into his subspace. "Who am I looking for?"

"Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots." Alpha Trion passed Smokescreen a small piece of red metal with an engraved design, "Take this, it is an autobot badge. Once you get to Earth find the autobots. Tell them you were sent by Alpha Trion and give the omega key to Optimus. I promise, no harm will come to you."

A prime?

He couldn't help but sneer. Hopefully this Prime didn't have the same feelings towards predacons that the others did.

On Earth? The irony wasn't lost on him. That planet was one that many predacons had fled to. The ones that could find a way traverse space at least.

He didn't trust his words, his empty promises. But, by taking this relic he could leave. He didn't need his help or pity.

The gunfire had ceased. Replaced by heavy footsteps approaching, he faced the door and braced for a fight.

But he never got the chance. There was a sharp pain to the back of his head, and everything went black.

.

.

.

.

He came too once again, disoriented. The back of his head ached, that old bot had suckered punched him.

He should't have let his guard down.

He wasn't in the small room anymore. He gasped as he realized he was surrounded by dead and not quite dead bots.

It brought back memories of the predacons' slaughter- memories he'd rather stay forgotten.

Most wore the same symbol the old bot had given him. If their war had gotten this bad, whatever he was carrying may hold weight than he initially thought..

He took two badges off a fallen autobot, they were slightly different than the one he already had- with bars extending out and slightly up. He placed them on his shoulders, covering his predacon badges. Finally he placed the smaller badge the old bot had given him on his chestplate.

Wearing these, the bots he was to deliver the key to wouldn't see him as a threat. He hoped so at least.

First he had to make it there.

He snuck through the maze of corridors, he couldn't help think he was going in circles.

There had to be a way out of here.

He peered out a small window, and felt his spark drop. Outside was the nothingness of space.

Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better. He silently grumbled to himself.

Now not only did he have to find a way off this ship, he had to find a way to travel through space to Earth.

He wouldn't be able to commandeer the ship alone. This ship was massive- even if he could gain control, he had no idea how to fly the thing.

He quickly flattened himself against the wall as a guard stomped past.

He had to be more careful. This place was maze-like and completely foreign to him.

His captors had the upper hand.

Luckily he was light on his feet, being able to silently stalk the halls. He had to keep on alert, but moving about shouldn't be too difficult.

The steps of another bot echoed closer. Smokescreen ducked away, into a side room. Inside, one wall was lined with circular doors. He peaked inside, it almost looked like.. a cockpit?

An escape pod!

He hit the button to open the door, immediately a flashing red light lit up the room. He could hear a muffled alarm through the walls.

He jumped into the pod and frantically tapped on the console.

He must have hit the right button because the door rolled close and sealed.

Smokescreen was forced back into the seat as the escape jets rocketed him away from the ship.

An alert popped up on the small display screen, with a graphic of a bar slowly decended. Foreign symbols flashed beside it.

The pod was getting colder and colder. So cold it felt the like frost had begun growing in his veins.

His panic rised as the temperature fell, he didn't know how to read the warnings.. commandeered the ship was beginning to sound like the better plan..

Then, as though a switch was forcefully being flipped, he fell into darkness again.

[densi-mber]

Wrongfully Accused

Deeks stormed into Rosa’s high school, Kensi by his side. He was trying extremely hard not to no one of “those” parents right now, but a call from the Dean of Students informing them Rosa had been suspended for the day had him in fight mode.

“Remember, we want to stay calm, professional, and open-minded,” Kensi reminded him. Deeks sent her a look over his shoulder and muttered,

“You’re the one who asked if I could send a threatening letter on my office stationary.”

“I was joking,” she hissed back as they were buzzed into the main office. They stepped up to the front desk, where a woman with short curly hair was on the phone. When she hung up, Deeks pulled on his best customer service smile.

“Hi, I’m Marty Deeks.”

“And I’m Kensi Blye,” Kensi added.

“We’re Rosa Reyes’ parents.”

“Oh yes,” the secretary said, offering them each a stick on visitor badge. “She’s just down the hall. You can go see her, but please wait until the Dean is available to speak with you.”

“Can you tell us what happened?” Kensi asked.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask Mr. Ruddell.”

“Of course. Thank you.”

Taking that as a dismissal, they headed in the direction the secretary indicated. They found Rosa sitting outside an office a couple rooms down a long hallway. Her was bowed over her raised knees, her defeated posture increasing Deeks’ concern.

“Rosa,” he called out softly, and she looked up, relief followed by embarrassment flashing across her face.

“Kensi, Deeks,” she said, standing, and accepting a hug from each of them.

“Are you ok?” Kensi asked, cupping Rosa’s cheeks as Deeks looked for visual signs of injury.

“Yes, I’m fine.” She nodded shortly.

“What happened?”

As soon as Deeks asked the question, Rosa glanced down, her reluctance to speak palpable.

“It’s ok. Whatever happened, we’ll figure it out together,” Deeks assured her.

“Mrs. Kelly kicked me out of class,” Rosa finally revealed.

“What? Why?” Deeks asked in surprise. He. Knew Rosa wasn’t perfect, and he’d never held her to that expectation, but he couldn’t imagine her causing any problems worthy of expulsion.

“She said my phone was ringing, but it was not. I always put it on mute or in my locker before a class,” Rosa explained, a bit of fire entering her voice which made Deeks oddly proud.

“Did you tell her that?” Kensi asked.

“Yes. She didn’t believe me though and by the time I got my phone out, the ringing stopped. She told me to gather my things and come down here.”

“Over one phone call?”

Rosa shrugged. “She really doesn’t like students being on their phone during class,” she answered.

“Where’s your phone now?” Deeks asked, falling into lawyer mode.

“Um, she confiscated it before I left the room.”

“I see.”

“What does that mean?” Rosa asked with a hint of nervousness returning. “I promise I didn’t do it.”

“We believe you,” Kensi said, squeezing Rosa’s shoulder. “Deeks is just mentally crafting his defense on your behalf.”

“My defense? I don’t think that’s really necessary.”

“Oh yes it is,” Kensi and Deeks said together. They shared a look.

“You’re not taking the blame for something you didn’t do,” Deeks told Rosa firmly.

“Thank you,” she whispered, offering him a grateful smile.

“That’s kind of our job.”

“Plus, Deeks loves a good reason to argue,” Kensi added.

“Ok, but please try not to scare Mr. Ruddell too badly,” Rosa requested.

“No promises,” Deeks said.

***

A/N: Once again, drawn from a real-life scenario. One time when I was getting ready to take an exam in undergrad, someone’s phone went off. The professor walked up to me and said my phone was ringing. I insisted it wasn’t and started to get my phone out to show him it was off, but whoever did have the ringing phone silenced it before I could. While I didn’t get kicked out, the professor gave me this knowing, judgy look.

[mesetacadre]

How did you start your political life or more specifically, how did you learn about communism and made it part of your life? I'd love to learn more about communism and how I could help the world and people but I feel like I'm too stupid for that and I just generally don't know where to start, especially since I'm afraid even socialism will fail and hurt people more than help. Sorry for this message but thanks in advance if you decide to answer!

Around the time I began to come out of a year-long+ depressive period, I began to seriously "get into" politics. I suspect one of the reasons which triggered such a long and severe depressive period was the beginnings of a political consciousness, I intuited something was wrong with the world in a fundamental way, especially the education system, but did not have any knowledge or will to get at that more concretely. I did latch on a lot to that "don't go to school" viral video, especially the part about how it hadn't fundamentally changed since the industrial revolution.

The first thing I found after I stopped wanting to kill myself so constantly was anarchism, actually, and specifically vaush videos. I know. but I did start reading some things, like the conquest of bread, and some more "competent" political theory content than vaush, I did really like the idea of market socialism and coops. To my credit, I also encountered georgism and even I could tell it was pretty stupid. Anyhow, I never really was convinced on anarchism, on a fundamental level. I knew the talking points, the common arguments, that jazz, but it was more a superficial belief rather than a core one. After like 6 months of this I decided to contact the party I am now, I had encountered them a couple months earlier but kinda chickened out. The will to do something more than watch vaush and be opinionated about US politics eventually prevailed and I contacted the party, and they were very patient in actually educating me, giving me some responsibility, and in the years since then I've continued to be educated in practice and theory. Generally I'm glad by trajectory wasn't like some other young people in my position that I encountered, who went from fascist to right-libertarian to US democrat in a matter of months, those people wear their lack of principles like a badge of honor.

Anyway, about your other questions, there is no such thing as being too dumb for communism, it's rather a question of a will to learn and a decent enough offline organization with which to apply some principles to your context. Theory is extremely deep, for sure, but there is no minimum theory requirement to start to get organized. This perception exists because often, the only communists who organize as such explicitly are, frankly put, massive nerds, and it gives off the impression that you need to have read all the basics before doing anything. That isn't true.

I get your concern about hurting people, I think it's a legitimate doubt to have, and one that can only really be resolved with an actual 1-1 conversation and not this format, but succinctly, I'd tell you that already, millions of people suffer and thousands die every day from causes related to the oppression intertwined with the capitalist mode of production, especially imperialism. It has killed throughout history exponentially more people than any army could ever do, even the most genocidal and cruel army you could imagine. Isn't the opportunity to end all of this worth the risk of failing? The capitalist class will oppress our organization regardless of what we do, a failed uprising is more of an excuse to clamp down on our class, and less of a cause in itself.

[lionlena]

Headcanon: How do they behave when you have a migraine? (Pedro Pascal characters)🩹😴

Joel:

✰ Joel, obviously, hates to see you like this. Your suffering literally breaks his heart. But of course, he knows he has to take care of you.

✰ The first thing he'll do is try to get some painkillers.

✰ Next, he'll make sure he gets some food you like. He knows you often get nauseous when you have a migraine, but he wants to make sure that if you get hungry, there's something you enjoy waiting for you.

✰ Joel will sit on the couch and encourage you to put your head in his lap. And he will gently massage your scalp.

✰ If it doesn't bother you, he'll be quietly humming a calm song under his breath. But if you tell him it's not helping you, he will be quiet.

✰ Only, from time to time, he will quietly ask, "How are you feel, baby girl? Do you need anything?"

✰ When you finally fall asleep, Joel won't move. He won't care about back pain and leg numbness. Your rest will be the most important.

Javier Peña:

✰ Javi can be a little insecure at first. He'll be afraid that you don't want his presence when you're so vulnerable. However, as soon as he is convinced that you need his help, he will turn on caring mode.

✰ He will make sure that your medicine, glass of water, and cold compress are on the bedside table. He will close the windows and turn on the fans, but he will arrange them so that their noise is not too bothersome for you.

✰ He will also try to smoke less because when you have a migraine, the smell of cigarettes makes you nauseous.

✰ Javier also has his secret weapon: orgasm. He only had to hear once that female orgasms were painkillers.

✰ Of course, he will only do this if you agree. He will spend long hours between your legs. And when you fall asleep with a blissful smile on your face, he will make sure that none of the neighbors will make noise. He won't hesitate to knock on their door and show his badge. Your rest is the most important.

Oberyn:

❂ The first thing he does is of course summon the maesters, the best ones. But he does not tolerate stupid ideas. If one of them suggests bloodletting or other nonsense, they can count on a close meeting with his spear.

❂ Oberyn will order servants to prepare the best room and make sure that the bed is full of soft pillows.

❂ He will also order a light meal to be prepared and send all the servants away, saying that he will take care of the rest himself.

❂ He'll prepare a bath of lukewarm water for both of you. He will take you in his arms and carry you to the tub. He will be very gentle and restrained. He will place kisses on your shoulders, neck, and head and whisper soothing words.

❂ Then he will lie down next to you and stroke your head until you fall asleep.

❂ He will put guards in front of the chamber door to make sure that no one dares to disturb your rest.

Javi G:

⊛ When Javi sees you in pain, he looks at you with sad puppy eyes and suddenly becomes extremely quiet. He tiptoes around you and waits for your commands. He'll bring you anything you ask for: a glass of water, broth, a cold compress... Autograph of your favorite actor? Give him an hour and he'll get that too. "Everything for you, mi amor. If it will lessen your pain."

⊛ He won't be able to resist hugging you. He will do it very gently, but he just needs to be close to you. It's like he wants to absorb your pain.

⊛ He will definitely want to hold your hand and kiss your head every now and then.

⊛ If you agree, he will turn on a quiet movie and cuddle you to his chest.

⊛ As soon as he notices that you have fallen asleep, he will immediately turn off the TV and look at your peaceful face.

Agent Whiskey:

✧ Jack, of course, is not a fan of strong painkillers, but he can't stand your suffering. Therefore, he will ask Ginger to create an effective cure for migraines, but without the risk of becoming addicted.

✧ Also he makes sure you have everything you need on hand.

✧ When you have a migraine, Jack becomes ridiculously protective, like a mother hen. His concern can be a bit irritating at times. "Sugar, does the blanket cover your feet?" He adjusts the pillows behind your back, makes sure you drink enough water, and, "No, Sugar, you can't take your medicine on an empty stomach."

✧ He will kiss your forehead and look at you sadly. If he could, he would take this pain away from you.

✧ You know he loves you and you forgive him for being overprotective.

✧ Eventually, he will sit next to you, put his arm around you, and pull you to his chest. If you start whining that the light hurts your eyes, he'll even let you wear his cowboy hat. Everything for you.

✧ When he notices you're asleep, he'll adjust your blanket and let himself take a nap, but he'll still be very alert. Your slightest moan will immediately wake him up.

Frankie:

✰ Frankie will use "google" help first. He will start reading about all the possible ways to relieve migraines.

✰ He makes sure your bedroom lights are dim and the temperature in the room is right. It will remove all sources of noise.

✰ He will ask if he should go to the pharmacy/the store for something you need. If so, he'll be back in 20 minutes. Probably breaking a few traffic rules along the way. He just has to provide his "princess" with everything she needs as soon as possible.

✰ Frankie will gently hug you and kiss your temples. If you let him, he will start massaging your head, neck, and shoulders.

✰ He will whisper to you anecdotes from his life.

✰ Once you fall asleep in his arms, Frankie won't leave you. Keeping you safe is his new, most important mission.

Din Djarin :

✭ Din has a secret weapon: Grogu. He knows the green baby loves you (and you love Grogu), so he will encourage him to use his healing powers on you. The migraine will pass immediately.

✭ But if for some reason he can't use Grogu's help because the little one will be exhausted, Din will make sure You get everything you need.

✭ He will avoid space-time jumps. And if possible, he will land on a peaceful planet.

✭ He will prepare a comfortable bed for you and gently stroke your head.

✭ For you, he will even take off his armor so that you can fall asleep on his warm chest.

✭ But of course, he would never admit it. Only in front of you and Grogu, he can drop his mask of a cold galactic bounty hunter.

As my poor @creedslove has a migraine (and my migraine is just around the corner) we need our husbands/boyfriends/fiances (delete as appropriate) to look after us.

[callmemaeverick]

Peril [Peter Sutherland x Reader]

A/N: Okay, I did it! I wrote a self-indulgent whump fic that blends (somewhat into canon) I hope this fic sparks more fics from all writers, cuz I really wanna read Peter x reader.

Summary: It’s about that scene, with a bit of a twist in it. I try to be not give Reader any distinguishing features, but if you found some, let me know.  This will be a oneshot, for now. 

The dinging that woke you was unfamiliar, a sound that you knew did not come from your own phone, blank and still on your night stand. Lifting your head, you squinted in the darkness, trying to figure out what it was that disturbed your sleep at... 4.30 AM.

"Motherfu-"

Normally you would have ignored it, thinking it must have been a random alarm or something but you have enough experience with hitting the snooze button to know that if you don't silence it, it will never stop.

You traced the sound to your top drawer. It took you a few minutes, but once you unearthed the burner phone from the depths of your collection of socks, you immediately fumbled to press on the green button.

"Hello?"

"I need your help."

And then you were moving. "Shit! Where are you?" Tucking the phone against your ear, you rounded your bed to fetch your clothing, scrambling to put them on. You remembered the day the phone was given to you.

"In case of emergencies," He had said. And you had scoffed. Peter worked in a basement, manning an antiquated mode of communication that may or may not be functional. When he told you about the job, he had told you it was to help other agents but you had half a mind that it was offered to him so that he was kept out of the public eye. With everything that happened with his father, and then with the metro bombing, you wouldn't put past the FBI to do something like that.

But you still accepted the device.

"You know where." There was a hiss of breath on the other side of the line, and you hastened your movements. Grabbing your personal kit from your bathroom, you headed out the door.

xxxx

You met Peter on the night of the metro bombing.

Technically, the boot of your car met him first.

When he appeared out of the alley, seemingly out of thin air, it was all you could do to stomp hard on your brakes. The sound of his body hitting your car, followed by the sound of the crash of your windshield are sounds you won't ever forget. You sat there, frozen for what felt like eons, your chest touching your steering wheel with every heavy breath. Your eyes were wide as you watched him on the tarmac, struggling to get up to chase after who he would later tell you to be the actual bomber. And then he dropped back to the ground and you snapped out of it.

xxxx

The pier was still dark by the time you arrived but you could see the sun peeking through the horizon. It did not take long for you to locate the small boat, having been given extremely detailed description and directions to it. It was one of Peter's safe places, you had come to know. Places he never goes to unless absolutely necessary.

Climbing onboard, you came face to face with a woman. There were light scratches on her face and a small bruise was blooming around her eye. It was clear she had been in a fight recently. You froze, fight or flight response gearing up.

"He's in here." The woman said, her eyes wide and scared and you knew instantly she was not a threat. Yet.

The last time you spoke with Peter, it didn't even cross your mind that he'd get hurt on the job. Sure, he'll carry a gun, a badge, his title will be FBI agent, but he would be safe at the White House. But after seeing the woman, you knew Peter was in bad shape.

And you were right.

He was shirtless when you saw him, body littered with bruises, black and blue and purple. But that wasn't the worst of it. Not when you clocked the blood seeping through his fingers, pressed to his side.

"Shit, Peter," In no time, you were right next to him. "What happened?" Carefully, you peeled his fingers away to get a better look at the wound, ignoring his sharp intake of breath. The bleeding had somewhat slowed down, the skin around the wound warm and sticky, but it was not pretty. The cut looks jagged and dirty, and if you had to guess, wielded by someone who knew how to inflict maximum damage.

“Knife. Were you followed?"  Peter gasped when your finger pressed a little to hard and you muttered an apology. The question was something you've never expected to hear, but you should've known better when you hitched your wagon to an FBI agent and made him your friend.

"I followed your instructions, circled back twice. We're clear." A muscle in his abdomen jumped at your touch, but he stayed silent this time. "This is gonna need stitches. You good?"

He took a beat before he huffed. "Y-Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

You turned to the woman and she took the hint. "Rose," She supplied her name.

"Alright, Rose, I need you to help prop him up but let him lean on you. I need better access to the wound." She advised and Rose took no time to get to Peter's other side and slowly let him lean on her. "Okay?" You asked when both of them grunted softly, him at the movement and her at his weight.

Only Rose responded. "Yeap."

You worked fast, washing your hands thoroughly before bringing a bowl of water and a clean cloth back to Peter. Carefully, you dabbed the dampened cloth onto the wound, wiping the blood away until you can see the wound clearly. In front of you, Peter tried to put on a brave face, but from the tension of his muscles and the spasming of his legs, he was already hanging by a thread.

Pulling out fresh sutures and needle, you hovered over him. "Ready?"

Peter only nodded.

xxxx

Your nursing training kicked in and you jumped into action, exiting your car and going over to the man's side.

"Please, don't move," You implored as you knelt by him and gently put a hand on his shoulder. Your other hand held your phone to your ear. "Yeah, 9-1-1? I need an ambulance. There's been an accident."

The man beside you finally clamed down enough to roll over. "Sir? Can you tell me your name?" He blinked up at the sky and underneath the beam of your headlights, you could see the state of him. His clothes were filthy, and he was covered in blood. When he winced, his teeth were stained red. Dread washed over you and all of a sudden, you were hit with the realization that you were the cause of it all.

"Oh my God,"

The man finally seemed to register your presence and he must have seen the terror on your face, because all of a sudden, his eyes cleared of the pain and he blinked at you. "N-no. This is... This is not your fault." He grabbed at your hand, clutched it like a lifeline. "The bomber... The- th-" But then, his eyes rolled back in his head and he lost consciousness.

xxxx

You tugged on the last suture and closed it of in a neat little knot. Peter above you was breathing hard, his brow matted with sweat, his eyes red.

Sometime during the procedure, Peter had asked for a break, to catch his breath and you took a step back. In the respite, Peter had asked you to switch on the radio, tuning it to the local news. It was then, that you all found out about Cisco.

"There, Pete. You’re done. You’re good.” You muttered, dressing the wound to avoid infection. Reaching out, you gently took a look at the nasty cut on his head. “You should get some rest,”

He let out another huge breath, slumping further into Rose. The act was so unlike Peter that you immediately turned away from the scene, something cold and sharp lancing through your chest at the display. It doesn’t take a genius to see that there is a tether connecting the two. It could be romantic, it could be otherwise, you were in no place to judge. Peter is your friend. But that’s all he’ll ever be. No matter how much you wanted more. No matter what happened that night.

~.~

When Rose returned after helping Peter to the small bed, she found you on the couch, wringing the damp cloth in your hand, trying to scrub the blood off of your fingers. In the span of knowing Peter, Rose had heard about very little of the people in his life. There was Zoe and Cisco, the thought of them and what she knew of them sending a pang of sadness through her chest for her protector and friend. Peter put on a brave face, but she knew that the news of Cisco’s death had hit him hard.

But then, he had also spoken of you, and Rose could see as the smile on his face bloomed like a flower at dawn, slowly and shyly.

Carefully, she took the seat next to you. The two of you were silent for a while, the air awkward with tension. So, Rose decided to be the one to break the quiet, and hopefully the ice.

"Thank you for coming. I- I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't."

You sighed, long and deep. "What happened to him? I thought he was just a low-level agent. He's not supposed to be doing... I don't know, whatever he's doing now."

Rose felt bad for you. It was obvious you cared for him too. She contemplated telling you the whole thing, but she knew Peter would not like that. You were a civilian and the truth would only put you in danger. 

But on the other hand, he had asked you to his safe space, asked you to stitch him back together. And you deserved to know.

So she told you what happened. From the beginning, all the way to what happened the night before.

By the end of it, you sat unmoving.

"Did he tell you how we met?" You asked suddenly and Rose nodded, allowing the change of subject.

"He told me he was lucky you were a nursing student. He told me you took care of him until the paramedics could come."

"After the bombing, I visited him. At the hospital. I'd seen the news, and I knew the media was trying to paint him as the bomber, but I knew the truth. I saw the guy he was chasing that night. I went to tell him that I believe him. That's how we became friends."

Rose smiled softly, glad that Peter had people he could rely on. She followed your eyes to the man, sleeping on the bed. "You care about him don't you?"

You looked at her but didn't respond. Still, Rose already knew. She had taken a liking to the man and trusted him with her life, and she only knew him for 4 days. You had known him for a year.

"And you?” You asked back, hesitant. “Do you care about him?"

Rose laughed, something she only did with Peter in the last few days. "I do. But not in the way you do." She admitted. "And he knows it."

Realization dawned in your eyes and Rose captured every moment.

And Peter, having the best timing, chose that moment to stir in his sleep.

Avoiding Rose's eyes, you made your way to the bed, sitting by Peter and gently shaking his shoulders.

~.~

Peter later found you above deck, watching the water. The boat was still docked, but secluded enough that he was able to join you without risk of being seen. It was a few hours past dawn, the sun is up but the air was still cold from the night.

You had checked him out before going up, changed his dressing and deemed him alright enough.

“You know, when I told you I’d be your personal nurse a year ago, I didn’t think you’d actually take me up on my offer.”

The joke fell flat, as you intended. You knew he was still in pain, still grieving, still feeling betrayed and angry what with the whole press conference all three of you just watched. You had half a mind to ask him to run, to take Rose and just disappear. You couldn't fathom watching him go against the White House and survive. But you knew him, all too well.

You played with the thumbdrive in your hand, turning it over again and again. Rose had given you a copy of what meagre evidence they had, in hopes that if all else fails, you can leak what you had to the Rome Tome and maybe spark an investigation.

"Any chance I could convince you to abort mission? Get you new ID's, maybe start a new life as a cowboy somewhere?" Another joke. It too fell flat when Peter said nothing. When the tension got too high, you finally caved and turned to him, your eyes glassy. “How will I know if you’re okay?” You asked.

Peter sighed, eyes cast out to sea. "You remember that night? The night we went to Zoe's rehearsal dinner?"

The change of topic almost gave you whiplash, but you nodded. It hadn't left your mind since.

Peter turned to face you, his eyes on yours. "I'd like to finish what I started."

Your eyes widened at the implication, but before you could ask if he was sure, Peter was leaning in. You heart thumped a heavy beat in your chest and before you know it, his lips were on yours.

He kissed you once and broke it off, eyes meeting yours again, searching your reaction but you didn't give him a chance as your hand came up to his jaw and you pulled him back towards you.

The kiss was not heavy. There were no frantic groping hands or hair pulling. It was simply a meeting of lips, an opening of a new book, a confession. It was a promise Peter was making that he'd fight and he'd fight to get back to you.

When you broke off, the both of you were breathing heavy, hearts beating a mile a minute. Peter lightly bumped his forehead to yours.

"You need to go."

You held back a sob. You would not cry.

"Go to work. Try to act normal. I'll come get you once everything is done."

You took a deep breath and closed your eyes. Then you got up and hopped off the boat. You circled the pier twice, and took the long way to the parking lot. You got into your car and drove off, not once looking back.

You trust him. Once he is done, he will come and get you.

Fin.

A/N: Okayy. So that was my attempt. IDK if you guys like it or not, but of you do, I'd appreciate constructive feedback. I have a few more ideas to write for Peter, one of them about what happened that night at Zoe's rehearsal dinner. I hope to write them over the weekend. Here's to never ending muse.

[lights-at-night]

tmagp headcanons

this will be edited when i get moreee

all of them have a warm color palette because the protocol logo is red and it would be pretty and also because i said so

alice: the tallest and will not shut up about it, has surprisingly not bad eyesight, consistently painted nails, poofy dyed hair, likes dangly earrings, will mix beverages that should not be mixed and enjoy the taste of it, knows all the drama, has bitching sessions with gwen in the form of "who had a shittier day" arguments", all the badges

sam: the biggest void eyes that stare into your s o u l, floofy and extremely pattable hair (alice messes it up a lot), shorter than alice but taller than gwen, wears and likes soft things, prefers tea over coffee but drinks coffee more often, eyesight starts deteriorating after started working at oiar

gwen: straight hair trapped in the cut it really short-grow it really long cycle, shortest queen and angy about it, has attempted to stay off caffeine to be healthy, failed, spreadsheet lover, wears contact lenses, the only thing that changes about her outfit is her tie and she has mAny ties, spreads all the gossip

colin: subsides off coffee and anger and bonds over alice with this, has a mug collection, will drink any concoction alice gives him and is therefore used as a lab rat for such matters, occasionally singed with no explanation, the day he shows up in a different outfit is the day he dies (they have dressed him for his funeral against his will)

lena: frequently slips into professional passive aggressive mode outside of work by accident, has a monotonous stare,

celia: will mention the Horrors with immense casualness,

[fanfic-reading-challenge]

The 2025 Fanfic Reading Challenge

Welcome to another year of the Fanfic Reading Challenge (FRC)!

I won't bore you with the history of the challenge, this year, but I will welcome you to check out past posts that do explain some of it, as well as include a brief overview of what, exactly, this challenge is, though it does change year to year. (Essentially you read fics to complete goals and win bragging points and an artsy badge.)

This year is especially different, as I had the extreme pleasure of having @noxsoulmate as a partner in crime in keeping me hostage on track to completing this year's FRC. Another valued member of the mod team is @jandjsalmon and speaks for all of us if you need questions answered!

As for the challenge....

This is, indeed, a challenge. Of course.

First of all... you must obviously read fanfiction. As if you don't already!

You also need to download and make your own copy of the spreadsheet, which can be found here, as well as below in the important links section.

To participate in the challenge, you read fics that match the tasks in the challenge. An example of a task can be: "read a fic with a title containing the word purple in it." Should be easy! Of course, there are harder ones.

Which is why there are different modes of challenge to the FRC. These are as follows:

Participation (Complete 1 task)

Regular Mode (Complete 80 tasks)

Hard Mode (Complete 150 tasks)

Extreme Mode (Complete 220 tasks)

Complete (Complete 250 tasks)

The challenge lasts from January 1st, 2025, to December 31st, 2025.

There are badges that go with the modes completed, and even a secret 6th badge that will be fairly obvious if you look at the spreadsheet! Doesn't mean it'll be easy to complete though. *smirks* (Blame Noxy)

Most important of all: this challenge operates on the honour system. We don't check your work, or your reading logs (see below), so I mean, I guess if you want to be slippery with the rules, you do you, and that's on your conscience, but honestly it's so much fun to see how much you can get done by following the letter of the law/tasks! You can be slippery even with following the tasks fully. It's great fun. ;D

I think that's enough for an intro, really, maybe too much.

Important Links and Reading Logs/Trackers

As there is a component of the FRC that includes tracking numbers of words read, most of us use a reading log/tracker to keep count of how many fics we read, including data such as words, of course, chapters, month completed, ship, author, title, fandom, link to the fic, and such. It's a great place to mark what fics you want to read in the future as well!

This year we have FOUR trackers on offer, quite different from one another, so take a look, play around with them and check out their "intros", and choose according to what you think will work best for you!

Fic Tracking Sheets

Juulna's 2025 Reading Log

Noxy's 2025 Reading Log

2025 Jandy's Fic Tracker

Taru's Fic Tracker 2025

Discord

We have a blast on Discord. From general chatter to sharing pet pics to being there for each other during the tough times to forming lasting friendships and making friendships you’d never make in a ship- or fandom-specific Discord, to asking for help ‘rolling the dice’ (pick a number between 1-10!) to choose the next fic to read, to finding some of the really challenging task fills in fandoms people might not have ever read but are willing to try, or finding fandoms someone has never read and is very tentative about stepping out of their box, but they’re being 100% supported and know they don’t need to complete the fic for it to count for the task, stepping out of their comfort zone… we’ve formed a very odd group of, if not friends, then companions (but there are definite friendships that have formed!! Just ask the people who have started watching NHL and NFL together in our off topic channel!).

In any case, our Discord is not necessary, but it is a worthy and tactical element to completing many of the tasks of this challenge. 💙

And.... without further ado....!

The 2025 Fanfic Reading Challenge! (link)

There is an info/rules page as the first sheet on the spreadsheet that should fill in any further questions you have. It also has more contact info than just this page if you have any further questions and perhaps need a more immediate answer for your needs.

*Occasionally you will run into something that looks like an error, and it may in fact be one! Let us know if you see it. It's hard not to make a mistake on as large a spreadsheet as this.*

Please, first of all, have fun and just read fanfiction that you enjoy! I (Juulna) did that last year and didn't even come close to completing the entire challenge, and I still had a blast because I was enjoying what I was reading and rereading. Others took the challenge right to the completed end. Others forgot about it halfway through but still had fun, and some even went back and filled in the sheet for a really good showing! The challenge is what you make of it, what you want from it. So... just have fun. Read fic. Smile. Enjoy. :)

Second of all... well, we would love if you signal boost this post!!!!

Third of all, we do have our pinned post that includes a link to this page and that will include a link to our Discord and all our trackers as well, including past links for memento and informative purposes.

Thank you, and a blessed 2025 to all!

[autumnalfallingleaves]

heck it have a TON of my own changling hilda hc's

Hilda found out she could still change into a troll during a heated game of dragon panic, and its safe to say everyone panicked a little when she suddenly became stone

The transformation is (at first) emotion based. Whenever Hilda feels extreme emotion, she goes troll mode! If the feelings are sudden then she just poofs into her troll form but if her feelings build up then some signs of her changing can be seen:

Bits of her skin turning into stone and her hair getting a bit more grey.

Her teeth getting more sharp and jagged.

Her eyes glowing like a trolls eyes.

Slightly longer nose.

At first she was scared of scaring her friends and others off by suddenly becoming a troll, but over time as troll acceptance grew she felt more comfortable saying that she was half troll.

Over time she learnt how to willing become her troll self, and whenever she willingly becomes a troll her body ignites in troll flames before they dissipate and reveal her troll self, and when she goes back to being a human its in a puff of smoke.

Also when she does willingly become a troll her outfit doesn't magically vanish, instead its represented by flora! Her clothes are colorful lichen, her scarf is a yellow vine around her neck, and her hat is a black flower!

Like trolls, instead of getting cuts and burses when injured Hilda gets cracks and fractures. These translate to scrapes when she reverts back to human. But the most horrifying aspect is that Hilda's troll from can break if put under too much pressure or force. (One time during a nightly picnic with her family and friends she fell off a cliff and landed on her arm, which broke off. Everyone else had to quickly rush to the trolls and ask if there was anyway to fix this, and luckily there was. [idk what it be, maybe some rare flower?])

There were a few times she turned in public:

When she got her first sparrow scout badge, she jumped for joy when she claimed it, turned into a troll, and thanks to the spotlights turned into a rock and broke the floor.

The first time Frida kissed her...with all of their parents in the next room.

There's more times but I can't think of any rn

Johanna has had to explain that her daughter can just go troll mode sometimes to many people, so most of Hilda's friends and some other people know about this.

Another weird changling think is that sometimes she just gets "Troll Flashes" and just turns into a troll for no reason at all. So she packs a sunhat and gloves just in case she feels like she's going to turn into a troll, to keep outta the light.

Hilda can fight the "turning into stone" bit depending on 1: The lights strength (its easy to fight simple light blub light, but a spotlight is a tough battle) and 2: amount of coverage on her body (the more skin showing, the more she'll have to fight)

She doesn't like the sounds of bells now, its tolerable as a human but gives her headaches as a Troll. One time during a celebration involving a big bell she got knocked out when it started ringing. David gifted her some pocket muffling headphones to lessen bell pain.

Whenever she is turned to stone its like a form of sleep, so from her pov she's turning into stone, then she's breaking out even though its been few minutes or hours later from when she became stone.

A troll taught her troll curse words, now she is unstoppable!!! /j (this one is more silly :P)

I love these!! I adore seeing how different people go about with their own versions of Changeling Hilda :D I think it's cool that you have Hilda's troll-ness not being a secret, like how I (and I think other people?) have done. Kid's even weirder now lmao

(And if you haven't seen it already and you're interested, I'd recommend checking out @formallyuninformed 's Changeling Hilda stuff for some angst related to your fourth point ;) )

[pheonixxfoxx]

My Savior Captain Buggy!!!

Today has been downright awful for me. I'm thoroughly tired of merely experiencing a thankless and lonesome life. A miserable life that I am currently stuck with until something comes through. Who knows when that will even be?!

Enough about the dreadful state of my dismal life let's have a positive collection update!

The Cabaji and Mohji/Richie can badges were purchased with my Big Top ita bag in mind. Naturally wanted to include some of the Buggy Pirates too after all!

The top row of cards was pulled from thirteen random packs. I purchased them knowing all too well that they had been cherry picked through. However, at less then $1.00 each, one couldn't resist! On top of that, there were Buggy cards to be had!

Absolutely, I passionately love my full art TCG card way too much! Instantly made my whole year pulling it after all! The one keychain off to the right there, is likely a bootleg. A choice item for an ita bag in my book.

The golden glittery card to the lower left is the best thing ever! It's filled with liquid, and I can just sit here all day shaking it. The Chop-Chop Fruit charms, are now on the zipper pulls of my Big Top ita bag and looking flashy!

Two specific items in this pic are from various sources. The box of playing cards, in the upper right corner came from eBay and the wanted poster keychain was an Aliexpress find.

The Stampede movie items were part of an admission bonus. It was purchased mostly for the little acrylic Buggy charm there. Didn't realize what the book contained until it was in my greedy paws.

OMG, Buggy concept art!!! Truly extremely desirable indeed! *drools*

Yeah, the watch isn't Buggy themed but still rather impressive for words!

You can either select an individual color for the LED light or set it on rotation mode. This watch was apart of the 20th Anniversary and only 300 were made, mine is #218/300.

This wanted poster, of the most attractive flashy man ever, was part of a lottery. Selected winners obtained all 4 wanted posters of the Emperors. Amazingly, I stumbled upon a seller with just the Buggy one up for grabs and at a good price!

Just when one thought the new art card was sexy, this bag is even more so! The plan is to hopefully acquire a frame for and hanging it on the wall, where I can gaze upon this gorgeous art at all times.

Buyee intentionally keeps waving a 15% off figures purchased on Mercari coupon in my silly face. *lol*

This is an official figure I've starred at online often and maybe had some dirty thoughts about. Um wait, what? Needless to say, it is currently mine and well worth the wait!

The last newly acquired item was this promotional poster from the "One Piece Emotion Exhibition." For a little while, it will still remain rolled up safely in the box. My wall space is rather lacking and framing it is undoubtedly preferred.

Speaking of space lacking, the ever growing Buggy corner may need its own wall soon. The cabinet is rather packed too! *lol*

[yes-i-write-fanfiction]

I'm now wondering how the relationships between sari and the autobots be different in the full cybertronian sari au, I don't think it would be that different but still interesting I think.

-Optimus practically makes her another member of the team, kinda like he did Prowl. In contrast to cannon, where he worries about her frailty as a human, as a full fledged bot he trusts that she can take care of herself more. Still looks out for her though and tries to teach her everything about being an autobot. Actually gives her a badge.

-Ratchet immediately gives her a full on medical examination, knowing that she's never been given one by an actual medic. Once he's sure that she's healthy he starts teaching her about basic cybertronian self care. While she's probably figured out some of it, there's still a lot of stuff she should know. Also very patient in explaining cybertronian culture to her.

-Very similar to cannon, Bumblebee and Sari quickly become best friends. Since she's got an alt mode they often race and compete against each other. Thinks it's cool that she was raised on Earth and is kinda jealous since that made her a bit of a celebrity. Promises to show her the coolest spots on Cybertron.

-Also very similar to cannon, Bulkhead and Sari becomes quick friends. Very fascinated with how it was growing up on Earth as a bot but tries not to be rude about it. Asks if she wants him to teach her how to fight.

-Now Prowl probably has the biggest reaction. Immediately he connects her appearance on Earth with the protoforms that were stolen from the dojo. In the beginning, he asks her a lot of questions about where she came from but when it becomes clear that she doesn't know, he instead turns his attention towards professor Sumdac. Will not rest until he knows the truth. Meanwhile, he also treats Sari extremely gently. He kinda feels responsible for her and looks out for her even more than in cannon.

[juuls]

I’m looking for an artist who could create cute badges like this these ones, for previous winners of all stages of our reading challenge.

Willing to pay reasonable commission price! And the due date isn’t until late January. :)

Here are a couple of examples from previous years to give you an idea/range of what I’m looking for: (thank you so much to @saganarojanaolt and @a-kinkajou for these previous badges, well all adored them — if you want to work with me again that would be kickass too!)

There will be 5 categories this year (oh yeah, forgot to mention, we’re the @fanfic-reading-challenge !):

Participant, Regular mode, Hard Mode, Extreme Mode, and one for completing every single task! (The unicorn below was to express our congratulations lol.)

So yeah, if you’re interested and know someone who may have room for these small badges, it would be an honour to commission you. ❤️