#finally getting around to posting things form the beginning of the year and it's wild to see

[oexas]

Follow me, little fox

[springtyme]

𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 ♡ 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏

𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖! 𝟏𝟖+ 𝐌𝐃𝐍𝐈

Simon catching baby fever, but you’re only roommates...

141 masterlist (there'll be a part two of this)

Before you, the only time Simon really left his flat when he was home on leave was to go to the gym or to go get groceries. 

He was content with this routine, he found comfort in the familiarity of it, and enjoyed the peace and quiet of his own space. Or at least that is what he told himself. This way of life had been sufficient for him for a long time, but as time went on he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. 

That is when Simon found himself considering the idea of getting a flatmate. He thought about it for a while, weighing the pros and cons in his mind. On one hand, he enjoyed his independence and privacy. On the other hand, having someone else around the flat could be a good thing, and he does have an extra bedroom in the flat that’s just collecting dust. Maybe it would be a good idea… Maybe.

After much contemplation, Simon finally decided to take the plunge and start looking. He posted an ad online, and waited for responses to come in. To his surprise, he received a good handful, he had actually not anticipated that that many, if any, would be interested in sharing his space. It is a little overwhelming, and as he goes through the applications he starts to doubt whether he had made the right decision. 

What if he didn’t get along with any of them? What if they were messy or loud or just generally annoying? It was a dumb idea to begin with, he thought to himself, but then as he looked through the last application, something caught his eye.You. 

You seemed responsible, tidy, and overall like someone he could get along with. But there was something more about you that intrigued him. Maybe it was the way you wrote about your love for cooking and how you were looking for a quiet and peaceful place to call home. Or maybe it was the photo you attached to your application, a warm smile on your face that made Simon feel at ease. 

Maybe this could work out after all. 

And work out it did, maybe a little too well. It has now been a little over a year since you moved in, and despite Simon being gone on deployment more often than not the two of you have become very close. You cook meals together. You watch movies on lazy nights, where you will sometimes fall asleep on the couch, your lashes kissing your cheek as the soft glow of the tv illuminates your face, and Simon can’t help but feel a warmth in his heart as he tucks the fluffy blanket, that you had brought with you when you moved in, over your sleeping form.

After you moved in, his flat feels more like a home than it ever had before. It’s like you were always meant to be there, filling up the empty space in his life that he didn’t even realise was there. 

There is something so oddly domestic about all the small things you do together – sharing a cup of tea in the evenings as you talk about your day, or even playfully arguing over who gets to do the dishes that night, even though he secretly never actually minds doing them. 

Pushing the trolley down the aisles of the supermarket as the two of you do the big shop together on Sundays are one of his favourites, though. Because he knows what it looks like from the outside – just a couple doing their weekly grocery shopping. The only thing that would make the scene even more picturesque would be with a little baby in the trolley, a perfect blend of the two of you, giggling and reaching out to try and grab for the items on the shelves as you both laugh and try to keep them entertained.

These thoughts will sometimes sneak into Simon’s mind, and he will quickly shake them away, reminding himself that it is just his imagination running wild. He can’t think like that, it isn’t fair to you or to himself. But still, the idea lingers in the back of his mind, growing stronger with each passing day.

It has started to get harder and harder to ignore these thoughts, these feelings. He tries to push them away, to bury them deep down, but they keep resurfacing. He never really expected to feel this way about you, about anyone, really. But now that he has you in his life, so close yet so far from what he actually wants to be he can’t help but dream about a different life, to have a family, a future, a life outside of the military and his flat.

Suddenly, Simon starts to notice more and more babies around him. Whether it’s at the park when he is on his runs, in Tesco, or even on TV, they seem to be everywhere. And each time he sees a baby, his heart aches with longing. It doesn’t help that your neighbours just had a baby, and he has to watch you coo over the little boy every chance you get. It is like a knife twisting in his chest, knowing that he will never have that with you.

It has always been a secret desire of his, a wish he knew he would never be worthy of having fulfilled. And yet, it linger in the depths of his heart, elusive and shimmering like a mirage in the desert. The dream of someday having a family of his own, of doing things right, of breaking the cycle he had grown up in. After meeting you, his dreams became more vivid, more concrete. 

He has fallen in love with you, and that scares the living daylights out of him. He never thought he would be in this situation, especially after all the sick shit he has been through. But here you are, filling up the empty space in his heart, making him yearn for a life he never thought he could have.

But Simon is good at keeping his emotions in check, so he continues to play his part, to act like everything is okay, like he doesn’t feel this overwhelming love for you that threatens to consume him. 

But late at night, Simon lies awake in bed, when he is sure you’re sleeping and he is staring at the ceiling, his heart feels heavy with the weight of his unspoken feelings. 

And when he tries to decompress, by fisting his aching cock in his hand, guilty thoughts of you will flood his mind, making him ache with longing. 

He knows it’s wrong, he knows he shouldn’t be thinking of you in that way. But the images of you, of your smile, of your laughter, of your kindness, they linger in his mind, fueling his desires. The way you smile and laugh and light up his life in ways he never thought possible, it fuels a fire within him so all consuming, so intense, that he can’t help but give in to it, even if just in the confines of his own mind.

And as he strokes himself, he can’t help but imagine what it would be like to have you in his bed, to feel your touch, to hear your moans of pleasure. He imagines what it would be like to hold you close, to feel your warmth against his skin, to hear you whisper words of love and affection in his ear. To have you beg for him to fill your womb and mark himself as yours. He would love it – to pump you so full with his cum, for it to take root, to see your body change with his child, to create a life with you, to have a family of his own. 

He will have to bite down on his own hand to stifle his groans and to stop himself from moaning your name out loud. It’s a dangerous game he plays in the silence of the night, as he knows that these feelings, these desires, can never be acted upon. But still, he can’t help but indulge in these fantasies, in these dreams of a life that he may never have.

And as he lies in his bed after, spent and worn, a sense of guilt wash over him. He knows that it’s wrong to have these thoughts about you. But he can’t help it, he can’t control it, and as he lies in the darkness of his bedroom, he can’t help but feel the sting of longing in his chest, knowing that you lie in your own bed just down the hall, so close yet so far away.

[looniez]

spoilers for the ending of totk!

i finished playing tears of the kingdom today and if i don’t talk about zelink RIGHT NOW i’m literally gonna explode. serious (spoiler heavy) rambling ahead!

the demon dragon phase of the final boss fight against ganondorf is so, so, so good. the scene has joined the ranks amongst my favorite zelda moments of all time. like, i seriously cannot even put it into words how much i LOVED it. as soon as zelda flew up to help i was a goner. i bawled. she stays right by link’s side throughout the entire thing and is there to catch him if he falls. it’s such a beautiful moment.

we know that zelda isn’t exactly mentally present in her dragon form. she says that she “had been sleeping” and in the epilogue she states that she doesn’t really remember anything from her time as the light dragon. aside from the final battle scene being generally epic (you get to ride around on a dragon while fighting another dragon. inherently very awesome), it’s heartbreakingly romantic. deep down, she knows who link is. deep down, she loves him. deep down, zelda is inside. she helps him subconsciously. she waited 10,000 years for him.

i don’t think i’ll ever be able to shut up about the ending. like, ever. link wakes up and he is falling, but zelda is too. zelda, no longer an immortal dragon, back in her human and very mortal body, is falling. just like how link lost her in the beginning. he reaches for her hand and this time, link catches her. this time, he doesn’t fail.

he holds her so tightly as they freefall. he cradles her head in his hand to protect her and shield her from the impact. link carries her from the water and lays her down on the grass so gently, with so much care. zelda wakes in her body for the first time in 10,000 years, and the thing that roused her was the feeling of a “warm, loving embrace.” 

i don’t think there’s any way to deny that link and zelda are in love with each other. i thought the same in breath of the wild, but tears of the kingdom really solidifies this for me. i’d argue it’s one of the most clear iterations of the pairing aside from obvious examples like skyward sword. like, to me, link and zelda basically said “i love you” without needing to use those exact words. i am so, so happy with how their relationship was portrayed in this game.

TLDR: i am so normal about zelink and how the ending of the game played out :’)

i have lots more i want to talk about regarding TOTK zelink so i might make another post soonish!

[dracomort]

When writing child Tom Riddle, what do you consider to be important notes/key elements/aspects to keep in mind? I really struggle with writing child Tom Riddle because there is only one scene we get from him as a young adult. I adore your characterisation of Tom

Even though we don't get to spend much time with child Tom, I do think that scene tells us a fair bit about his character. I would say it's even better character material than the memories we have of his teenage years, as this scene with Dumbledore shows us a Tom that isn't very good at masking yet.

One of the most important takeaways regarding little Tom, as outlined in this brilliant post, is his speech patterns. Tom at eleven is not sophisticated. He doesn’t speak like a precocious governess-tutored pureblood child. He’s blunt and direct, speaks without artifice and has little awareness or care for politeness or hierarchy. He interrupts Dumbledore repeatedly during their short conversation, even after being reprimanded for his manners and conduct.

Since we know that the author doesn’t, um, shy away from writing out accents in dialogue, I think it’s fair to say he isn’t as ‘full Cockney’ as perhaps many of his peers, but Tom still has the manners of a street urchin and does not give a fuck. Tom is a child who is used to commanding respect from both his peers and the adult Muggles in his life. Dumbledore neither being intimidated nor capitulating to his demands makes Tom uneasy. He doesn’t feel safe around people who aren’t frightened of him.

Tom doesn't know how to handle a world where he isn't the top dog. He's learning, undoubtedly, and practising his future model student persona, but he isn't very good at it yet. It doesn't come naturally to him, and he's clumsy with it. To me, that's one of the things that makes eleven-year-old Tom so endearing.

Another thing that is clear with a child Tom but not a teenage Tom, is his high level of emotional volatility. He’s far from the creepy, distant child that we see in the HBP film. Book Tom oscillates from one emotion to the next fast enough to give any reader whiplash. He swings from distrust, to fury, to wild joy, to politeness, to fear, then finally withdraws to a shrewd, calculating distance—all within his brief conversation with Dumbledore. I do think it’s important to recognise that Tom has never been fearless; after all, he destroys himself precisely in response to an all-consuming obsession with those fears. We already see a preoccupation with death, his mother’s death in particular, and a belief that his magic will save him from a similar fate.  

But what Tom isn't is a coward. When faced with a person or problem that frightens him, he addresses this head-on at first and tries to brute force his way through it, either through aggression or violence. Only when that doesn't work does he draw back and begin to think strategically, attempting to charm and ingratiate himself. As a teenager we see that he learns that the second strategy is going to work best for him, but it isn't really in his nature. By adulthood, he has reverted to form. In many ways Tom at eleven is closer to Voldemort in behaviour than Tom at sixteen.

Also, side note: while I was rereading this scene for the post I noticed that Tom actually believes his father is dead. When he asks Dumbledore about him, he doesn’t ask if his father is a wizard, he asks if he was a wizard. At this age, it hasn’t yet occurred to Tom that his father might still be living, just with no interest in finding his son.

[alexanderflowerbird]

DAY 9

I'm late! Ah! Don't worry, I'll do a Day 10 post later today so we can stay on track. Yesterday I spent a whole 3 hours catching up with one of my best friends, we'd meant to watch a movie together, but as certified yappers, we simply had a lovely time talking about all sorts of things. This friend and I often send each other podcast length voice notes that get responded to when the time and energy is available, so it was such a pleasure to interact with them in real time. I spent the rest of the day revving myself up to sit down and write, only to go to bed, literally knock out unconscious without awareness of it happening, around 9 PM lol. I'm not upset with myself about it, clearly I needed the rest. It's nice to have a schedule and life style where I can really listen to my body about things like that, I get up naturally quite early, and I occasionally stay up late, but I sleep when my body is ready to sleep, and that's a luxury I think most people don't necessarily have. Despite my conking out at 9, I do have an excerpt for you and I gotta say, I think a nano-style challenge is way more feasible when you spend October just writing to buffer your word count. Having a back log so you can take days to recuperate, to account for life's unknowable changeability, and of course, to ensure that guilt and shame about not being caught up doesn't demolish your motivation? It's excellent.

I'll be able to do this again next year with this in mind, because working in October to prepare for November is manageable for me. Hopefully by this time next year, I'll also be home, finally, with my husband and having him close by to create with and admire will also motivate me to keep on writing. He is a fantastic writer and I could talk to him for hours about our creative endeavours, so I always feel inspired by him even while we're apart. When we're together? Oh. The writing, the creation, the elevation of concepts? It's gonna be, for lack of a better term, bonkers wild crazy good lmao.

But! My excerpt for you! It's from Blood Sun Territory and you're getting to meet a new character! Chashwi is the local medicine woman for the town, yet to be named, that is the most populated part of the territory. She's been something of a spiritual and medical person from childhood, denoted by her family and local tribe as such because she was struck by lightning and survived it. She's a scrappy bad ass older lady, because we LOVE to see a scrappy bad ass older lady in stories, and as one of the most prominent community leaders, she's formed this town into a place where people care for each other and are accepting of the ways people are different.

When she was young, bigotry and judgement were part of what glued certain groups of people together, but as soon as she was able to make decisions and have influence, ironing out those mindsets in place of acceptance, love, and effort to understand had been a major goal of hers. She's accomplished it at her wisened age, and with all the hard work she's put in to make sure everyone feels at home? She does NOT tolerate people who pass through disrupting the peace. She and her fellow towns folk are in fact, so far left they got their guns back, so when a group of bikers roll in and decide they can loudly be hateful, they realize with a quickness that this ain't the town for that. CW for the F slur and transphobia

Taglist: @theskeletonprior @tragedycoded @thelittlestspider @badscientist

If you'd like to be part of my taglist, please interact with this post

Chashwi slams the bottom of her beer bottle against the table she’s at so hard it’s a wonder it doesn’t break, and she gets to her feet. 

“Yeeeahhhh…” It’s not a word that comes out of her, but more… a sound, a warning that begins at her usual, kindly register and sinks into a menacing growl. Malachi looks where she’s looking, and it’s at the road boys that have congregated at another table across the saloon, talking loudly about their encounter with a group of gay men at their last truck stop just beyond the reach of the territory. Malachi knows these kinds of men, fearlessly hateful, recognizing that the color of their skin and the commonality of their beliefs allows them a sense of freedom to be bigoted, he’d been taught, at least by the world, that it’s best to ignore them. He had been ignoring them, able to hear them jeering about a woman who’d confronted them, a man dressed as a woman, they’d said, but probably just a woman. He’d kept his back turned until Chashwi’s voice had broken through the racket of the bar and now all eyes are on the conflict about to unfold. Chashwi is glaring holes into them and they’ve gone quiet, sighting her briefly like frightened rabbits when a wolf is nearby before they harden up. 

“Whatchya upset for, grandma?” One of them says, and Chashwi slams her beer bottle on the table again. This time it breaks, leaving a jagged end. She adjusts her hold on it slowly, visibly, from the gentle grip one uses to drink, to a hold that might allow her to swing and stab the broken end of the bottle. Malachi flinches when the glass actually smashes, and realizes that he can tell who is passing through town and who has known this place all along by who jolts and looks around in a frightened attempt to understand what’s going on. The difference is palpable, and when he looks at Dolcezza, his localness is on display too along with many others in the room, eyes dark, expressions set. 

“We don’t talk about folks like that here, boys. I am not your grandma, but I will teach you a lesson all the same if you keep yapping loud as you can. You hear? You hear me?” Chashwi says, brandishing the end of the bottle. She’s not close enough to any of the men to swing on them yet, but some of them do rear back, others leaning forward with interest in the fight she’s offering. 

“See boys, the beasts out there? The land? The sky? All that don’t care none, what you like, who you kiss, what ya say you are. But we do. We care and take care of our own. If you wanna be here in our midsts, you care, or you can get on out and see if our land treats ya different because you’re white and men and like touchin’ women. You understand?” The road boys laugh at her after a few moments, some nervously, others with brazen abandon. There’s at least a few of them smart enough to recognize that they’ve made the danger they’re in in this bar and the danger they might face outside equivalent. The locals are queer and black and brown and trans, the locals aren’t afraid to use their guns, and the locals know people disappear out here all the time, never to be seen again, bodies never found. Malachi can see it on all of their faces, in that set, sharp hardness. These men have made a mistake that a couple of them are too stupid to recognize yet.

“Listen, bitch,” Malachi almost flinches again– Chawshi is an older woman, the town’s medicine woman; she is kind and wise and strong, he can barely stand the idea that anyone might call her a bitch, but by the way she reacts he suspects she’s been called that and all sorts of other names all her life by passers through like this, “This is a free country, if I wanna drink my beer and laugh at the faggots with their dress up bullshit, then I’m free to do that.” 

“Sure ya are. And I’m free to pluck your eye right out your head with the end of this bottle, ain’t I? We’re especially free here, son. Free as birds, free as the wind and all like. I’m free to do as I like with you out here. Ain’t never felt that before, huh? That someone might be free to do you harm just cuz they feel like it? Bet you’ve been on the other side of that coin a long time. Let me introduce ya to the alternative. You’re free, yes you are, god bless America. But we’re free too.” Suddenly, all variety of weapons have become visible across the bar. The bartender, Ruby, has produced a shotgun from under her bar top, knives of all sizes and styles are glinting in the lantern lights. Dolcezza has a knife too, one he’s had holstered for most of the days Malachi has known him and that he’s only used to cut plants or rope or to gingerly touch something unknown and not quite dead on the road. He sets the hilt and his fist against his thigh and shifts forward on the bar stool. Now these men are rabbits, surrounded by wolves. Even the more brazen of the bunch are starting to see their mistake. 

“So what, you gonna send us out there to get eaten?” One of them asks anxiously. 

“I would like that very much,” Ruby says, glaring. Chashwi holds up her free hand in an offering of peace. 

“We don’t gotta do that, no. You just say you’re sorry, quiet it down, and come morning you can take yourselves and your beliefs the hell out of our town. Sound alright?” There’s a held breath, and the men turn towards each other, crowd together for safety and to whisper out a debate that the locals are quietly enduring. It’s obvious they should back down, allow themselves to be cowed, but if men such as these had had good sense, they wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. A few of them are scanning the focused stares, eyeing knives and hand guns, but no one moves and there is an eerie patience to it, a mercy born of certainty that if the bikers decide they want a fight, it’s a fight they’ll lose.

[word-wytch]

hiya lovely!! i just re-read chapter 9!! i felt like i needed to completely process the content of the chapter before i commended you on YOUR ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL ART!!! their soft touches?! are you kidding?? this story is softening me more and more as it progresses!! i can tell how much thought goes in to every single word you put in to it, genuinely one of the most awe inspiring stories i’ve read in a very long time. so anyway!!!! now that i’m done bowing down to you and your masterpiece, i wanted to bring up a few of the things i picked up on in this chapter that i’m not 100% sure will mean anything, but that i picked out anyway!!! from the beginning of this chapter when the focus is on our lovely teacher the imagery consists of mainly the cold and winter, and then as soon as our dear eddie is brought up: warmth!! ‘a wild warmth in his eyes’, ‘There was warmth in him too — the kind of warmth that colored the brightness of his voice when the silence was broken’, even the temperature of both their skin, her fingers being cold and eddie’s forearm being warm. and also he’s described by her as ‘a summer wind’. it’s as though he’s bringing back this warmth to her, because we all know eddie is a literal ball of sunshine🥰 i know someone else already brought this up but the ‘care about/for’, MY HEART. the way that she cares ‘about’ her students, but cares ‘for’ eddie. YOU. ARE. A. GENIUS!!! carrying on!! i don’t know what chrissy is thinking but i don’t like the ‘equal parts desire and remorse’, i really hope she doesn’t try anything else with eddie, especially after the events of the party, and it would absolutely break our girl if she saw chrissy being all flirty with him. just that reminder that he should be with someone his age rather than her: 10 years his senior and his teacher. i would not be able to handle it!!! but since this happened in a ‘chemistry’ lesson, i feel like there is definitely some chemistry from chrissys side. AND FINALLY!!! right at the end, ‘The world around you fell away. The concrete walls, and clocks, and bells, and chalkboards ceased to exist. There was nothing else that mattered except hands on skin across the great divide of the desk lodged between you’ this is breaking my heart. it’s just the two of them, feeling each other in that intimate moment and yet it’s like there is still this reminder of their status’s standing in the way in the form of the table between the two of them. I CANNOT. anyway!! i’m so glad they’re finally realising that there is clearly something there, and i honestly can’t wait to see where you to take this gorgeous story next. i can genuinely say every time a chapter is released of your story, it’s the highlight of my week. thank you for all the effort you put in, it’s really paying off!!! so much love to you💗💗💗

First of all, I can't even express to you how much a message like this means to me. The fact that you've taken the time to write all of this out and tell me how you feel and the things that you so keenly observe.

You are absolutely right about the fact that I am incredibly intentional about every word I write of DSSCTM. That's part of why it takes me two weeks to post a chapter that only ends up being 3-6k. 😅

Full disclosure, I didn't intend for the parts about going from cold to warm to be metaphoric, not consciously anyway, but THIS is the reason why comments like yours are so valuable to writers. You've actually given me some great ideas on how I can use this metaphor consciously going forward, and it made me have a brain blast moment for the eventual kiss scene, which I'll give you a little teaser, involves the cold.

It is so rewarding for me as a writer for me to hear from my readers actively noticing the hard work I put in to tell this story. I can promise you that it will only get better as things start to unravel and the themes and motifs of the story are revealed in all their glory. The set up and payoff will be oh so satisfying, and the thrill of that for me as a writer is seeing these sorts of reactions from people like you who notice them so well.

UGH. My whole heart to you. MUAH. 💋

[coderedblood]

Lemme begin by saying I don’t know why people keep saying JBJP is going to turn heel. (Now as I say this, I am aware that a. it will probably happen now and b. surprise heel turns are both AEW’s bread and butter when they don’t have meaningful storylines for their talent and is almost always a good way to rip out the fans’ hearts. Seth Rollins’ 2014 heel turn is a master class of this instance and while there have been many attempts to replicate it, very few have succeeded.)

I sincerely hope AEW doesn’t turn Jack Perry heel. Ricky Starks is completely sexy correct when he said that the Pillars thing is sort of dumb (he didn’t say that, I’m simplifying his remarks), though not exactly from a storyline/kayfabe perspective, but if they’re gonna persist with it till one or more of them doesn’t renew their AEW contract (since MJF’s and Jack Perry’s contracts are up for renewal next year), then turning JP heel would imo be a foolish move on AEW’s part. Here’s why:

Sammy Guevara is not over with the fans outside of Texas and he can’t get over as a face. (I wonder if his habit of talking shit is the reason. Ah hell, who am I kidding? Of course it’s the reason!) He is booed to the heavens and back no matter how much they try to get him into face territory. Bluntly put, Guevara isn’t a face no matter how hard he tries to be one. (Sorry, Sammy.)

Darby Allin (fuck I hate saying his name), while he is a face currently, his status as one feels extremely artificial on his end. The fans are behind him (for some oddball reason), but he isn’t a very believable face at all. He acts very much like a heel - his vibe is very much “the world’s treated me like shit, the world owes me, and I don’t care about the world”. I’ll admit I was a fan of DA for a short time in the beginning bc I thought he had a cool look but that’s where it ended. Bluntly put, I think they’re taping twenties under the fans’ seats to get them to cheer for and put Allin over as a face.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman. He is probably the most well-known heel in professional wrestling today behind Roman Reigns. ‘Nuff said.

Jack Perry is the most natural face of the Four Pillars. With his pleasant out of ring personality (recent rudeness notwithstanding and there’s a whole other post on that here on why that isn’t a cancellable offense), the difficulty of losing not one, not two, but three of the closest males in his young life making him a sympathetic person, and his affection for his friends in and out of ring making him relatable, he’s got it. Although, it is time for a gimmick change. I’ll forever love Jurassic Express and the man and his dinosaur and wild friend gimmicks, but it is time for a change. (My mom made the excellent suggestion of some kind of rockstar, which I’m all for!) Plus people are unfortunately bored of the Jungle Boy gimmick, which I believe is the root of why people are calling for a heel turn.

What I’m saying is, you lose Jack Perry as a face, you’re losing a vital power dynamic. What is wrestling in its barest form? Good vs. evil, a human fascination that’s been around since the beginning of humanity. Turning Jack Perry heel would shake this dynamic (more than it already has been) in AEW and frankly not for good, since there is in an influx of heels in AEW. This isn’t exactly a good thing in itself because while wrestling has changed significantly since it’s become popular and faces and heels are much more expansive, you still have to have identifiable traits as one or the other, and when you have more heels than faces (and vice versa) your potential for storytelling is greatly limited. More heels, your storylines amount mostly to “who’s worse, me or you”. More faces, it’s mostly “friendly competitions, yeah!” (Neither of these are bad, but it gets boring seeing this stuff week after week.)

In a perfect AEW, the women’s division would be much more utilized beyond the Outcasts and Britt Baker and the women’s titles would mean something, Best Friends would finally be tag champions, Darby Allin would be fired and blacklisted, the Jericho Appreciation Society would go away, the Dark Order would get a storyline dedicated to rebuilding and strengthening them, and Jack Perry, Hook, and Danhausen would be trips champions.

[thatgoblin]

In Which Emery Sees Discourse and Does a Hot Take on Likes, Reblogs, and Comments.

Hot Take: Stop telling people to not Like your stuff and to only Reblog it.

I will not be replying to people who reblog or message me about this take because I don't want to debate/argue about this. That's why I wrote it down in length.

So, you’re a content creator on the internet? Cool! A lot of people are. I am, even though I’ve been pretty quiet in the last year or so, and it’s a rad hobby. I don’t make money from it in any way, shape, or form. It’s just something fun for me to do.

I’ve been doing it for nearly 20 years actually, around the time fanfiction.net and fanfiction.org (RIP) first popped up. I started writing way back in the first grade, about 7ish years old aka 1996. My teachers always complimented me on my work because it was always creative, much more so than most of my peers. Before I even knew what fanfiction was, I was writing Spider-Man and Backstreet Boys crossover fanfiction because I wanted to see that story and knew no one would make it aside from my depraved prepubescent mind. (Don't get me started on the Might Ducks Animated Show fanfiction. That was a different time and place in the early 2000s.)

The more I wrote though, the more I wanted to share these stories. My friends were always in the stories somehow and I would print them out for them to read at school when I got to 5th grade (aka 2000 when I finally got a computer and printer at home.) They liked them and while, yes they were fuckin' wild, they wanted more like this.

So when I discovered I could write stories online and post them for others to read, I was blown away.

You mean people can just write ANYTHING and post it? Fanfiction about Power Rangers visiting Lord of the Rings and fighting Barney? Sign me the fuck up fam! I was also an avid reader of the fanfiction as well, trying to find specific tropes that I loved was hard though. I am a huge fan of the ‘I was sent to my favorite imaginary world and now must save everyone with my knowledge’ plot and was when I was younger too.

Except I didn’t find very many of them. Maybe a handful depending on the fandom or none at all. It was sad and I was frustrated because I wanted to read things I liked as well, so I started my journey into posting fanfiction. I was 12 at the time so while I was able to grasp grammar in general, I didn’t always know how to make words flow or convey an image. It didn’t stop me though. I kept going and slowly but surely was able to write better and better with each post.

Mind you, this was all on fanfiction.net, which is still up and running but a nightmare on mobile, so you could see views, likes, and comments. I would see the views and be disheartened a bit by the single digits after months and even years of the fics being up.

This is the heart of where my Hot Take begins.

I never thought I was owed views, comments, or likes to continue creating.

Yes, I was sad no one read them, but I read them. I still read my own stuff because I wrote for me and continue to. The fics weren’t made out of a need for people to share my work or get poplar or feel included (cause let’s face it, undiagnosed AuDH me did not care if I was included because I could make my own world and was perfectly find with it.)

I wrote because I wanted to write stories I couldn't find, anyone else liking them was just a cherry on top. While I liked sharing my work, including my art, I didn’t do it with the notion that I would suddenly become this well renowned author online. It wasn’t planned to be a steppingstone to anything either. It was an outlet to be able to express myself in ways I was not allowed to out loud in the real world. (again, undiagnosed me in the early 00's with a brother in the military and middle child syndrome was in a WEIRD place.) I wrote for me and me alone.

That’s what I think was lost when people started to become anti-Like on Tumblr. People stopped caring about if they liked their own work and that being enough. If you like your story or drabble or song and no one sees it or reblogs it, you still made something that you like and that’s the point of fanfiction/fanart. It’s for you and you alone.

That doesn’t mean it’s wrong to want reblogs more than likes, but to come out and say ‘Do not Like my story/art, reblog instead because it kills creativity of content creators’ feels entitled to me and sends the wrong image of what creating is.

I want Likes on my things because then I know someone read it or saw it. They enjoyed it. If they reblog it as well, even better, but to come out and push back on Liking posts doesn’t sit right with me. As much as it might suck to hear, you’re not owed reblogs or likes or anything. This isn’t a career or a way to gain status with followers, it’s a hobby that you share with others should you choose to post and even if it was a career you’re still not owed anything because you post it for free. Hobby’s should make you happy in the creation and creation process itself and if people see it when you share it, that’s cool, and when they like it, even better! They shouldn't be discouraged from that and told it hurts the creators to Like something.

Side Note: Tumblr also isn’t the best place to post things and get reblogs/comments/attention. AO3 is the best place for that. Tumblr is fine and it works okay for writing and art, but it’s not made to have an archive of fics or art at your finger tips in a coherent list to show and search like a library.

While yes, it can be disheartening to not get recognition for something you poured hard work into, that doesn’t mean you have to rely on that recognition to continue to create. Your art, writing or other, is not about that, it’s about you and the relationship with the story you’re telling in your chosen medium. The focus on how people will react to or like it should be secondary rather than primary.

If no one reads your 100,000 word fic on Steve/Tony finding a time machine to fist fight a dinosaur or your 100 hrs of work on you digital painting of Harry Styles as a hyper realistic centaur, it still exists. That work you put into it still exists. Your love for that project still exists. Go back and redraw it or reread it yourself, find the enjoyment in the story/art that you had when you wrote it because at the end of the day, everyone else be damned. I love reading my own fics, even if no one does. That’s what matters, not Likes, Reblogs, or even Comments. Just keep creating and yeeting into the abyss and maybe it’ll find someone or maybe it won’t because you found it when you made it.

[mythedefeneder]

I froze around the corner, my heart missed a beat as cold washed over me. Denial, they couldnt have died!

My mind flashes back to the day when we made a promise, a youthful dream to change the world. To make sure that what had happened to us wouldn’t happen to anyone else.

Something touches my shoulder

I stiffen at the touch, I knock the hand of my shoulder and turn around. Worried eyes looked over me while asking me if I was alright. taking a deep breath before I gather myself, i nod.

It couldn’t be true, i needed to get information. Our emergency line hasn’t gone off. So either someone is lying for fame or the Heroic Organisation Association is trying to lure out a mole. Or maybe it was someone pretending to be them.

Booking it to the nearest library i can find I grab The burner-phone and shoot a text. It remains unanswered even after I’ve entered the library. I quickly login on a computer and search the news. No articles popup about the death of the villain. Checking my phone while rewording the search In hope of something changing.

A video pops-up. I press play, It is horrific. Anger boils within me,simultaneously burning away the cold numbness and freezing all feelings.

quickly downloading the video onto my phone, because a video like this would not be able to stay up for long before HOA would show up and take it down. The heroes involved were to big to allow such a scandal.

Once again our promise bursts to the forefront of my mind. The bodies of our parents over ours, tear soaked and hugging our last hug as a family. A plan begins to form. One that if even remotely successful could change the entire world.

The body that was recovered for the funeral was only suitable for a closed casket. As their body was burnt i made one laat promise to them ‘i will take down this world’

I took the ashes home with me and secured them in a pouch. A new addition to my uniform.

I worked hard the coming years, strove towards the top, to be the number one. The one everyone relies on. The darling of the media, unbeatable. The pillar upon which society unwaveringly relies.

The other heroes went lax, neglecting to train, skip refresh courses. Because i was there. They could just ask me, so why bother going to a boring 2 hour class?

Thats when i started poisoning them, giving them slightly wrong instructions, each uniquely wrong in their own way. So that misinformation spread like a wild fire.

Suddenly no-one knew correct first aid anymore, proper procedures for disasters where beginning to get lost to time. Their ratings plummeted, mine soared even higher. I had become unmissable.

Time for the final part of my plan started to approach. Reaching out to allies in the shadows we prepared. The video got leaked online with a Hydra bots attatched, every attempt to delete it would result in 2 more accounts getting created and posting it.

The day had come. The video had gotten enough traction to not die out, had been shared, clipped, commented on enough to be unerasable. I donned my uniform, grabbing my twins ashes to hook them on the new outfit.

I look at their urn, a beautiful thing, custom made by my own hands. Hundreds of its siblings had laid in the trash during that period. “Soon” I whisper to it “soon I’ll see you again.”

This new outfit had removed everything that tied it to the HOA. Small parts of it -future historians might argue- drew inspiration from the villain Moth. Maybe they’d argue about the hero Light and the villain Moth and toes that might have existed between them.

They closed their eyes one last time and took a deep breath. It was go time

They stormed the public building of the HOA . Raising a ruckus, quickly heroes were called onto the scene. Thats when the disasters started. The rescue efforts went all types of wrong, wrongful or even dangerous misinformation being spread about how to help someone or what to do.

Panic amongst the heroes as they fought each other about how to do their job, or on some cases just fighting outright. Of course with the heavy hitters (and their attacks) getting flung around by them, brining even more destruction and chaos.

Hearing a whistle they saw the signal, the shadow allaince had taken over the broadcast and were airing the video. If tjey listend closly they could hear a few radios or tvs playong the video.

The cries of their twins and the child he had been protecting haunted them, the cruel laughter of the heroes and then the screaming. The fire in them roared, consuming them.

He was burning to ashes just like their twins remains. But unlike them, they would go out with a bang, spreading both their ashes far and wide. Destroying everything in their proximity.

They blinked their eyes, the familiar surroundings of the lab greeted them. Their parents and twin standing in-front of them as they climbed out of the tube. Tears spilled down all of their cheeks as they hugged.

They took each others hands and walked into that blinding light together. Finally being together again, finally being able to rest together

Leaving behind the world that would soon go up on ashes.

Fin

You and your twin are opposites in this world of heroes and villains. One a villain, another a hero. You just heard one of your colleagues talk about how they killed your twin.

[passionesolja]

Yapping about Eternal Days of Night Act 1

This is an Act/Arc from Junius B, which is a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure analog horror I’ve been watching. It’s pretty cool. Very unique for an analog horror. I kinda think of it as Part 6.5. It’s set in the later-ish 2020s, in the ireneverse. It’s about Passione. Post Purple Haze Feedback too. Not flawless (which is normal lol) but I can tell a lot of thought and care went into it. Blah blah Blah.

Spoilers below

Obviously some real 4D chess is going on. In the semi-finale, Ondulata tells Armani “yeah, Dionne isn’t loyal to Passione, she’s loyal to Malavita”. Malavita has been around since the very early episodes and he’s this mf from Diavolo’s Passione who’s managed to stay around through everything. He’s not a good person at all. Like Gëek High is the Eldritch horror that haunts Dionne but Malavita imo represents the more grounded and realistic horror that goes on in Junius B’s story

Dude grimey, opportunistic, and manipulative. Like we know for a fact that he got Dionne into Passione, got them addicted to cocaine, and that he and Dionne got some kind of toxic relationship going on. Its not like the two love each other, it’s like one night stand things. I think that Malavita is a good example of the mentally conceivable terror. Like I can’t picture and Eldritch horror ass Stand like Gëek High, but I can 100% understand a Mf like Malavita.

An older, experienced mobster mf who has power over Dionne even if Dionne doesn’t realize it or feel like he does. Like the story isn’t grotesque with it but it’s established that during Dionne’s early career in Passione, he used sex, partying, violence, and drugs to keep Dionne dependent on him and in the gang. BUT, it’s also established in the finale that Malavita isn’t some Passione loyalist, he’s been feeding information to an northern Italian gang for years. Seemingly since Giovanna took over. Why? He not happy that Passione dropped out of the drug trade and some others. That’s it. Bro don’t want to be a gang leader or anything apparently

He also knew about Ozzy Brando being in the Eternal Days of Night cult but never told Dionne about it. So to me that says that he’s intentionally trying to be messy as hell and puppet master some shit. Like he’s the one who wanted Dionne in Passione to begin with and has been stringing this mf along since they met. We don’t even know what bro’s Stand do and I think that adds some kind of mystique to him. Bro isn’t terrifying because of his Stand, he’s terrifying because there’re a million mfs who move like him irl

I think that Malavita is a fantastic underlying villain because he isn’t this scary ass entity, or some form of trauma. Malavita doesn’t seem like he has any goals outside of making money and getting a lil bit of power. He’s just a small minded mf. Dionne is like 28 years old in Eternal Days of Night, has been knowing Malavita since 25-26 and its wild because they fw Malavita.

Imo he’s an interesting minor antagonist because as an audience member I’m like “oh this guy isn’t at all good for Dionne and has motives” but Dionne is like “me and bestie🤗/shady guy I’m also using but am getting used more by him”. I don’t think Dionne is a victim, D3 likes the coke lifestyle, clubbing, sex, and violence that Malavita offers them but they’re also not told everything

Shit like this is why I love Junius B but also why I can understand why it isn’t popped off yet. Because this shit is more eerie to grown mfs instead of kids who want fnaf horror and monsters

[mightyflamethrower]

America’s Wind Industry Implodes: More Offshore Projects Scrapped

In the US the offshore wind industry is completely underwater, in every sense. The insane cost of attempting to (occasionally) generate electricity with no commercial value in hostile marine environments has finally caught up. Projects are being scrapped in the same way that punters rip up their betting slips when their long-shot nag fails to place.

Hubris is never far away when it comes to crony capitalists and rent-seekers promoting projects that were always too good to be true. That hubris worked a treat while gullible governments were merrily forking out endless streams of taxpayer’s money to prop up one of the greatest Ponzi schemes, of all time.

However, in recent times the politics of power have turned toxic. Power consumers are increasingly hostile to their ever-escalating power bills. With one eye firmly on the ballot box, politicos have rejected calls for even more massive subsidies from wind power outfits in the form of fixed-priced contracts at ludicrous prices – that would ultimately be added to those already crippling power bills.

All of that means wind power outfits are being squeezed on both sides – with rising construction and operating costs and shrinking subsidies (in real terms, at least).

Call it the beginning of the end, but things look less than rosy for the cats who have been wallowing in oodles of other people’s money for almost 20 years – as these pieces from the New York Post explain.

Collapse of projects shows again that wind power is not affordable New York Post James Hanley 2 November 2023

The renewable-power fantasy is being blown apart by furious financial headwinds.

Already this year projects have tumbled in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts, and now Danish wind-power giant Ørsted has canceled two wind farms in New Jersey.

Over and over, the litany of causes is the same: inflation, higher interest rates that drive up capital costs and severe kinks in the supply chain.

These same problems are slamming proposed offshore-wind projects in New York as developers make final decisions on whether to start building turbines or cut their losses before they get worse.

Seeing that the wild cost increases threaten to make their projects unprofitable, these companies went hat-in-hand to the state’s Public Service Commission asking for increases of 35% to 65% on the price of electricity they hope to generate.

But the commission declined to dig deeper into ratepayers’ wallets, sending them away empty-handed.

The four companies behind these prospective wind farms have all taken big hits to their balance sheets. Equinor has written its value down by $300 million.

All this chaos caused a top BP executive to lament that the offshore-wind industry is “fundamentally broken.”

Indeed — and yet this broken industry is what New York’s climate activists have pinned their clean-energy hopes on.

If offshore wind had to compete on the free market, we wouldn’t even be talking about it.

The levelized cost of energy from natural gas is around $37 per megawatt hour.

The contracts the wind-energy companies struck with the state sets offshore wind’s price at $118 per megawatt-hour, three times as expensive as gas but still not enough to make turbines turn a profit.

To get out of the red, the firms had begged the PSC to jack up the price to between $140 and $190 per megawatt-hour.

These wind farms will almost certainly be built someday, even if the current contract-holders back out and the state has to rebid them.

And if it does, every bidding company will demand higher prices, socking ratepayers across the state with higher bills to subsidize them.

This is the danger of letting the government pick winners and losers. Watch the show “Shark Tank,” and you’ll see real investors having to decide whether to risk their own bankroll.

When experienced people are playing with their own money, they don’t care whether an idea sounds exciting or ticks the proper ideological boxes. They only care whether they’re likely to make money off it.

But when government provides subsidies to businesses, the investment decisions are made by folks who get to play with other people’s money.

Not having anything of their own at stake dulls their judgment, making them care more about the ideological appeal of a proposal than whether the money picked from the public’s pocket will provide a real return on their (unwilling) investment.

And while an investor will walk away from a project that’s going down the tubes, government agencies will keep throwing good money after bad — there’s no cost to them, and it hurts to publicly admit you’re wrong.

New Yorkers are capable of choosing the future they want. They don’t have to have it forced on them.

It’s time to shove the cost-immune policymakers to the side and let the market work. Let firms innovate to find affordable sources of clean energy, and climate conscious New Yorkers will beat a path to their door. [Note to James: it’s called nuclear power and New Yorkers have enjoyed it for more than 50 years.] New York Post

The wheels are coming off New York’s insane alternate-energy plans New York Post Editorial 15 October 2023

New York state’s insane renewable-energy plan is starting to implode, and the sooner Gov. Kathy Hochul and other leaders admit the truth, the better.

On Thursday, the state Public Service Commission nixed a request for vastly greater subsidies — about $12 billion worth — for 90 alternate-power projects that are supposed to provide a quarter of the state’s electricity. That would have doubled public support, most likely meaning huge increases for ratepayers in a state where power already costs far above the national average and rates are even now rising to help pay for this “transformation.” The companies involved say they’re facing far higher costs, thanks to inflation, supply-chain issues and other developments since they inked the original deals.

Many, likely most, will now look to exit.

Hochul, meanwhile, released a new “10-Point Action Plan” that rhetorically doubles down on the state’s commitment its goals but doesn’t hold a hint of how to pay for it.

The state’s 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act requires cutting fossil-fuel emissions 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050.

Solar and (mostly offshore) wind plants are supposed to replace that electricity.

Oh, and cover the natural growth in demand for power.

Plus, New York wants everyone switching to electric cars, electric heat and electric cooking, so these green dreams require even more growth in electricity generation.

Again, the PSC’s (wise) ruling means the wheels are coming off the entire alternative-energy scheme.

Nor is that the only blow.

For example, part of the supply-chain issue is the utter lack of ships that can actually build the vast fields of offshore wind towers that New York’s leaders want.

The only vessels with that capability are foreign-flagged, and so prohibited under the federal Jones Act, a sacred cow for the American labor movement.

Then, too, plans for a battery factory in the Hudson Valley are on the brink of collapse after its CEO resigned, its stock cratered and its workers got laid off.

Vancouver-based Zinc8 Energy Solutions had won $68 million in state tax credits for a Kingston plant to manufacture long-duration energy storage systems.

Its implosion means the imagined renewables-heavy electric grid would lack crucial help in maintaining service when the sun isn’t shining or wind isn’t blowing.

Meanwhile, the folks in charge of overseeing the state electric grid have warned that this “transition” risks leaving New York City facing blackouts as soon as 2025.

By the way, statewide conversion to electric heat would mean peak power demand will come in the coldest months, not the hottest: So the blackouts won’t leave people sweating uncomfortably but instead freezing in the dead of winter.

The entire US and Western drive to end carbon emissions is a ruinous wild-goose chase.

New York’s rush to lead the way, begun simply to boost then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s presidential hopes, only guarantees that Empire Staters will suffer the worst ruin before reality comes crashing down. New York Post

[serendipitous-mythicality]

With ever-lasting madness Gazing through empty, flashing eyes Golden wheat sounds fill my head Over something seldom sung  Wandering with broken feet Over hills in distant sands While white birds battle black In thunder-strewn winds  Drunken mercies shattered, From screams, escape desperate times Still, outlawed hope beats with heavy wings Amongst tombstone-blackened minds   Winding maze concealed With parting drifting seas Finds poets’ dying whispers Over abandoned love’s remains Buried deep without compassion Crazed within the storm Lost without redemption Will it all be mourned?

Years ago, I used to write poetry. I keep meaning to pick the habit back up. It's been somewhere shy of twenty years now since it was a regular habit. Couldn't even begin to guess at how long it's been since I've written anything. The first one on this post was completely outside anything I'd ever done. I was inspired by Paul McCartney of all people. This was when I was really researching The Beatles. I used to come home from school (high school and college) and listen to music, write, and play solitaire. All day long, I'd fill notebooks full of my favourite lyrics and write story ideas, poetry, etcetera. Been going through various past writings of mine looking for loose papers I wrote in regards to the novel that has been in my head for most of my life. It's funny that I thought I had majorly changed the plot as I finally sit down to write it instead of only researching mythological lore. Instead, I'm finding scraps from many, many years ago with these same plotlines in them. It's been with me for a long time. I'm been finding various things as I go. Such as: Butterfly playing skip rope with the dog's tale A wrinkly hound With a long nose of butterscotch And: A day without days is like a moment without moments. Broken wings flutter sobbing on the wind while lopsided suns salute frivolously from a grey-bent sky. All the while, tears well within the dusty cracks of civilization proving to be too much for the sinner to hold fast in trembling hands. You can't escape them and the moments become moments as the grains of sand join the tears. Sighs lament over lost words and broken hearts as brooding trees echo the wind's rage over being left to face the truth. Really not sure WTF was going on in my head as I wrote some of this stuff. The first line makes no sense.

Then there's this:

THE BLACK ROSE

Faded yet vibrant Its beauty cuts like a knife A haunted, forlorn quality Its darkness shimmering Like the water's reflection Reflecting nothing Its thorns hold a sacred price Forsaken life A single cut rose - in black Mistaken Wild darkness A commitment made unaware Beware 

I was certainly moody back in the early 2000s on. It's an interesting time capsule. Really got going on haikus and their 5-7-5 form for a while there too. Should pick that habit back up as it's a simpler way to be creative throughout the day.

The only writing I've done since is Rhett and Link fan fiction. Was reading some of it today (a couple of years old now) and was tempted to tinker around and fix them up better. Still have a chapter to go on the one. However, this is how I always lose track of my novel. Not pausing it. Need to get a good schedule going.

[headspace-hotel]

Can you like...explain minecraft to me?? I used to watch my brother play (like 10 years ago lol) and I was under the impression it's just kind of a world where you can build stuff and make cool structures? but your posts make it seem like it's got lore and all sorts of stuff that goes a lot deeper than building a mansion! (feel free to ignore, I can totally just google this, but sometimes it's fun to talk about what you love, and I get a better sense of something when I ask someone who's passionate about it!)

There are two main gameplay modes, "creative" where you can basically create whatever 3D structures you want using whatever blocks and materials you want, and "survival" where you have to stay alive, protect yourself from monsters, and you have to mine/harvest/gather materials to build with.

There is no "story" or "objective" to Minecraft. There is a "final boss" of sorts, but you can play it when you want or not at all, and you can keep playing and "progressing" after the final boss.

The "world" is procedurally generated and basically infinite (the game makes more world the more you explore). Each new world you generate is unique. It takes the form of a vast natural wilderness with varying types of terrain and biomes, covered in trees and plants and with a variety of animals.

There are also a number of mysterious ruins you can find. Scattered throughout the world are villages, inhabited by villagers, which are like...a species of being, distinct from the player, who is presumably human. The villagers can't communicate with you but you can trade with them for resources. The majority of structures you find, however, are ruins that appear to be long abandoned by whoever built them.

When you play in survival, you are dumped in this wild environment and have to collect resources from the world around you to survive. As you play, the sun will reach its peak in the sky and then begin to set. Darkness causes dangerous monsters to spawn, so you have limited time to find or construct a shelter before nightfall. "Day" lasts 10 minutes and "night" lasts another 10 minutes. (You can essentially fast-forward through night by sleeping in a bed though.)

Many of the monsters are undead and appear to have been once human, unlike villagers. This is fine.

Later in the game, you can build a portal to the Nether, which is basically hell. There's also the End which is where the "final boss" takes place. The Nether and the End are both environments to explore and gather resources from.

All of the areas of Minecraft are rich in implied lore. It's very well-crafted but none of your questions about What Happened will ever be answered, apart from the (apparent) fact that the player is the only living human, there used to be others, and they're gone now. If you look into any of the implications, it becomes very sad. Single-player Minecraft is profoundly lonely in a way I can't quite describe. The world has an empty feeling that can at times be rather eerie, and there is a sense that you are searching for something you will never find. You have to keep searching anyway.

Basically, Minecraft is open-world exploration in the fullest sense of the word, where the entire world is made of blocks you can take apart and rebuild to your liking, but there is also combat (if you want) farming (if you want) animals to tame (if you like to) and maps and puzzles and stuff. You can terraform existing landforms, plant crops, trees and plants, build houses and buildings, farm monsters or animals, and even build machines that do virtually anything. I have a machine in one of my worlds that automatically shears my sheep and drops their wool into a chest for me, for example. These are only some of the things you can do.

Alternatively, Minecraft is a story about being alone.

[selenesheart]

dazed // d.m.

word count: 2.9k

warnings: smut, rough sex, praising kink, titty fucking, single dad!draco, single mom!reader, tension, cursing, unprotected sex, a bit of wine, a bit of spit, post hogwarts, modern au

summary: the tension between your son’s best friend’s dad and you was unbearable.

—————

“they said they’d be here by ten!” draco heard little scorpius’ voice coming from downstairs as he made his way down. draco smiled at scorpius’ enthusiasm, remembering telling him that you and your son would be there at any moment.

draco remembered when you two agreed on you bringing your 9-year-old son to the malfoy manor to spend time with scorp a few days back.

your son had told you that he wanted to visit his best friend at the beginning of the week, who was none other than scorpius malfoy, draco malfoy’s son.

after making plans with the malfoys, you mentally prepared yourself for what was gonna come. prepare for that cocky smirk and that harsh personality that you haven’t seen in at least ten years.

as your son mentioned the name “malfoy”, your memories rushed back in, all the glances, and flirty looks. you had to admit, draco malfoy was attractive, but you knew he was nowhere near good. well at least back then.

a couple of minutes later, an expensive-looking car arrived at the manor’s entrance. you and your son were inside of this car, looking rather excited, or at least your son was.

“merlin” the slytherin whispered as soon as you stepped out of the car, draco’s eyes landing on your figure, a figure of a goddess. malfoy examined every inch of your body, he couldn’t take his eyes off you, like he was being hypnotized.

but draco wasn’t the only one being hypnotized at the moment. you, too, were admiring his tall figure, from his perfect features to his arms that appeared to be noticeably muscular. he had changed.

you took a deep breath as the children greeted each other. blinking repeatedly, your vision rose to the blonde in front of you, giving him a polite smile as if you two haven’t spent more time looking at each other than usual, taking each other in.

taking a few steps, you extended your hand to greet the older malfoy, he took your hand in his rather big one, shaking it. his tall body hovering over yours, making your mind foggy.

his eyes lingered on your small, slight shaky hands, smirking at the slight size difference. your body had changed over the past few years, as well as your gorgeous face, he noticed. his face didn’t move at all as he scanned your face, it was like he was blocking any emotion from showing.

after backing away, you greeted the younger malfoy, bending over to reach his eye level. it took all of malfoy’s self-control to not let out a strangled groan, he adjusted his collar, letting out a low breath as he tried not to let his eyes wander down, which he miserably failed to do, letting himself catch a glimpse of your covered backside.

you got back at your feet, as draco took an unsteady breath.

“why don’t we all come inside the manor?” the tall man suggested as he opened the big, black door. with one last eye contact, you made your way in, the boys coming right behind you.

your breath hitched as you entered the enormous manor, mesmerized by the elegant chandelier, you examined the room, the many floors, the ridiculously long table in the guest room.

you chuckled lowly when you heard the little “woah” that escaped your son’s lips. smiling slightly at the cheeky smirk of the two malfoys. like father, like son, you supposed.

“let’s go to outside, ‘wanna show something!” scorpius spoke to your son excitedly. after checking with you if he could go to the garden, your son ran behind scorpius. giggles were heard from outside, making you smile slightly. then, it hit you; you were in the manor with a very tall, attractive man behind you. alone.

turning around slowly, you let yourself explore him with your vision. his sleeves were rolled up to his forearm, a couple of buttons undone, veiny hands in his trouser pockets. he looked so handsome, you thought.

“so— would you fancy a cuppa?” he offered, his deep voice breaking your train of thoughts. you looked up to him feeling embarrassed, he was smiling politely down at you. you returned the smile as you responded with a soft “yes, please”.

walking down to the kitchen, you felt draco's hand brush against yours, suddenly feeling hot, even when the room was freezing. you also took notice of his kind and polite personality, he wasn’t that rude 17-year-old boy that treated everyone like garbage.

“can you help me get those glasses on the top of the drawer?” he said as the two of you arrived at the large kitchen. you hummed a response while approaching the drawer that he was referring to just a couple of seconds ago, draco leaving to get a bottle of red wine.

you placed a hand on top of the counter besides the dark drawer, lifting yourself a bit to reach the said cups. your fingertips could touch them but it was no use, you huffed, the glasses were unnecessarily high.

you jumped slightly as you felt one of malfoy’s big hands on your waist, his tall figure— once again— hovering over you, reaching his arm to the top of the drawer. your backside pressed against his front, making him close his eyes slightly, trying to remain calm.

he grabbed the cups like it was nothing, using the hand that was in your waist to turn you around. draco raised the glasses to your face with a lazy smirk spread on his face, making you roll your eyes playfully, although your self-control was slowly getting out of your reach as his long fingers were spread out, sending a shiver down your spine.

“I could’ve reached that” you joked as his long fingers slowly let go of your waist, making that spot feel empty. “it seemed like it was too high for you” he responded along with a chuckle as he made his way to the kitchen counter, where the expensive wine was located. the blonde opened the bottle easily, while you sat down in the kitchen’s chair.

draco placed the glass in front of you, pouring the red wine inside of it. your eyes betrayed you as they made their way to his long fingers full of rings, unconsciously you bit your bottom lip softly, you let your imagination wander.

imagining how his fingers would feel, so deep inside of you, stretching you. how it would feel to have them in your mouth, preventing you from making any sound as he entered you from—

“is that good?” he asked innocently, breaking you from your naughty thoughts. you took a deep breath as you mumbled a “yes” to his question. you were extremely embarrassed, all things you were thinking of the man you haven’t even seen since high school.

the two of you chatted for hours and hours, drinking, enjoying each other’s company. laughing and just chatting about each other’s life in general.

────

“mum! can i stay for the night, please?” your son asked with his big doe eyes after you told him that it was time to go home. a sigh left your mouth, “in that case, i’ll come pick you up first thing tomorrow, alright?” you responded to his question, he nodded, a big smile on display.

“why don’t you stay with him?” malfoy spoke taking you off guard, turning around you saw that he was already in his pyjama pants, your breath getting heavy as you caught the sight of his exposed chest. you were about to decline his kind offer until you heard your son’s voice “yes please! stay in the manor with me!”.

“well— if there’s any room, i could stay for the night,” you sighed, “but, where am i going to stay, and besides, i have nothing to wear for bed,” you said worriedly. you furrowed your brows as you saw draco playfully roll his eyes.

“you could sleep in my room, and i’ll give you one of my shirts for you to wear” malfoy spoke softly, mentally smirking, already forming a plan in his head. your hands felt sweaty at the idea of sleeping in the same room as draco malfoy, in his clothes.

after the older man and the kids tried to convince you, you finally agreed. giving both boys a good night kiss on their foreheads, you rushed to malfoy’s room. finding no one in the room, you quickly grabbed his big white shirt and his boxers, making your way to his luxurious bathroom. you used a spell to help you clean your undergarments.

once you were done, you exited the bathroom just to find draco waiting for you in the darkroom. malfoy was mesmerized by the sight of y/n l/n wearing his see-through shirt, making your bra to be shown, causing his thoughts to go wild. all he wanted to do was rip his shirt off you and roughly massage your breasts until— he took a steady breath, containing himself.

soon enough, you were washing your face in the sink, ready to call it a night. draco stepped behind you, he extended his arm to his toothbrush in front of you. the once big room suddenly felt small.

once he was done brushing, he placed the toothbrush where it was before, causing his growing cock to make contact with your backside. you gasped as he gulped slowly, making eye contact through the bathroom mirror. hard, lust-filled eyes looking back at you.

biting your lips slightly, you turned around slowly to get a better look at his face. your vision rose to his eyes, innocent eyes looking up at him. draco had lost control. he got ahold of your cheek, bringing you up to a heated kiss. you moaned against his mouth as your fingers travelled through his hair. it all felt right.

any respectful or friendly behaviour towards each other was gone as you held tightly onto his broad shoulders, digging your nails into his skin.

the next thing you knew, the two of you were kissing, biting, licking each other like desperate animals. one of his hands travelled from your face to the end of his shirt, desperately taking it off your body, along with his black boxers.

draco groaned at the sight of your perfect body in a black set of undergarments, the sight of you looking up at him oh so innocently, the constant brushing of his erect dick against your clothed cunt. it was all driving him insane.

you arched your back off the bed, taking off your bra eagerly, breasts flowing free. malfoy wasted no time on grabbing your soft mounds, playing with them, kissing them, almost worshiping them.

“merlin— ” he breathed against your chest, the vibrations adding to the pleasure “i can’t wait to see your tits bouncing up and down” his words alone made you even wetter if that was possible. you were dripping.

you cried out as he took one of your nipples in his mouth, biting it softly. your hands were once again located on top of his head, your fingers threaded through his silky hair.

“‘m gonna fuck your tits, alright?” he asked—more like demanded— as you moaned softly at the thought of malfoy in top of you fucking your breasts. your panties started feeling uncomfortable now, you couldn’t control your arousal. you should’ve pushed him away, and tell me to stop, but you couldn’t, you didn’t want him to stop.

and now, here you were, your son’s best friend’s dad on top of you, ready to gain an orgasm from your tits, it felt like you were in heaven. he looked divine. his sweaty hair going everywhere, his dark pupils, toned body. such a beautiful sight.

he positioned himself on top of your torso, his muscular legs on either side of you. you looked at his face, waiting for his next move. he spat between your breasts, as he placed his throbbing cock in between. you grabbed each one of your boobs, bringing them together to create friction.

“that feels so good, darling argh—” draco groaned as he started moving his hips, front to back, causing his dick to leak some pre-cum across your breasts. his breathing got heavier as you stuck out your tongue to lick his red tip.

he moved faster while you moved your tits up and down, following his rhythm. it felt like he had died and gone to heaven, the feeling was unmatchable. he couldn’t wait to have your aching pussy stuffed with his dick. plus, the look in your face had him almost cumming right there and then.

but he fought the urge to cum in your tits. malfoy suddenly stopped and lowered himself to play with your folds, teasing you with his twitching tip.

“i want you inside me, please” you don’t know what took over but you pleaded like your life depend upon it. the infamous smirk was back at his face, a low chuckle leaving his pink lips.

“what do you want inside, darling?” he rubbed your desperate clit with one of his fingers, making you cry out in desperation “do still want my fingers?” he asked, causing you to furrow your brows. what was he talking about? still?

“oh don’t play dumb on me now. just a few hours ago you were wishing my fingers were inside your panties, fingering you. did you forgot about the legilimency spell, already?” he scoffed leaving you dumbfounded, he read your mind while you were thinking about him having his finger deep inside of your cunt. you gulped loudly as you looked deep into his eyes, looking for some type of sign that would tell you that he was trying to embarrass you.

but there wasn’t any.

“don’t you worry princess. you’re gonna get something even better” draco whispered as he winked down at you. your excitement level growing by the minute.

draco sucked on your sensitive breast as his hand made its way to his erect cock, gripping it while he teased your tight entrance. his other hand coming down to your thigh to expand your legs more. one of his thumb traveled through your glistening folds, smirking at how wet you were.

“i’ve never wanted to fuck someone so bad, until now” he breathed against your collarbone, your hands gripping his muscular forearms tightly. his words made you let out a soft moan before you realized.

he entered you as his mouth filled with praises, praises that made you clench around him in the most delicious way possible. after years of not having sex, this was all you needed.

“fuck— you feel so good, princess” he moaned lowly, your moans getting louder as he thrust in and out of your tight hole. one of your hands was placed on top of your mouth, trying to be silent.

“these walls are pretty thick. which means we can be as loud as we want” he spoke to you as he took your hand off your mouth and started thrusting his hips even faster. his grunts were the most arousing things you would ever hear.

his thrusts got harsher, making your tits bounce up and down repeatedly. loud whines and moans were heard coming from you as you dug your nails into his soft skin. his balls slapping against your skin while he circled your clit rapidly.

“you look so pretty with my cock inside of you, sweetheart. see how i’m filling you up?” he said with a hoarse voice. you whined ‘yesyesyes’ as he lifted your leg to his waist, the new position making him hit your g-spot repeatedly.

“you’re doing so good f'me baby— shit” the attractive man swore as he felt you clench around him. he fisted the bedsheets from the pleasure. his thrusts were getting rougher, balls slapping against your skin.

“are— ” malfoy breathed “are you clo—close?” he asked before he connected his lips to your overstimulated nipples once again. he roughly massaged the other breast, slapping it once in a while. his main goal is to make you cum before him.

“yes!” you gasped when draco’s big hands suddenly held your hips, lifting them to reach even further into you. he was going at an animalistic speed, you couldn’t even keep up.

“c’mon, come for me baby, show me how good you feel” he breathed against your lips, you grabbed the back of his head, pushing him down on you, kissing him roughly while you were thrown off the edge.

the two of you moaned against each other’s mouth as you squeezed malfoy’s cock tightly, milking him down. draco kept thrusting into you, his cum spilling out too, riding you out of your high. the blonde man disconnected his lips from yours as he pulled out.

the sensation of pulling out made you both moan softly, both cums dripping out of your hole and onto the bedsheets. draco was quick to collect the dripping cum and shove it inside of you with his fingers, causing you to arch your back off the bed and moan softly at the feeling of his fingers.

after catching your breath, you opened your eyes just to see the 27-year-old man that you just fucked beside the bed, who was already looking down at you with a sweaty face. and you would be lying if you said that his next words didn’t make you wet.

“i’m not done with you, yet. get in all four for me, darling”

—————

[sugamamacustard]

Feed Me

Pairing: Alpha! Keiji Akaashi X Omega! Reader, Alpha! Wakatoshi Ushijima x Omega! Reader, Alpha! Rintaro Suna x Omega! Reader

Genre: Fluff

Request: Ooooo what about when Alphas 🐘 ( maybe akaashi, ushijima, rin and kuroo) find out that their omega has not been eating enough like (their only eating little things like granola bars or fruit) so their upset that they had to find out through someone else and they scold them for that but then their told that they have gain some weight and that gets them even more upset because they think their perfect etc.

Summary: Some times, people do things because it’s what they think is best. You don’t tell your alpha about some weight gain you’ve noticed, and try taking care of it yourself because of this.

Author’s Note: Hey, you. Yeah you. The beautiful person reading this? You are perfect. You are worth it. Your feelings are valid and you shouldn’t feel bad about having them. You are so amazing, and even if I don’t know you, I am so proud of you. You are so strong for making it so far. Keep going. Never change. :) Also your nice comments? Literally my dose of serotonin

did I mention my OC one or twice? Yes. Am I sorry? No. Also, idk if anyone is curious, but Yuka doesn't actually go to Shiritorizawa but whatever.

Requests: Closed!

Buy me a coffee?

Trigger Warning: Mentions of (Semi?) Starvation.

Keiji Akaashi

➵Now, Keiji is pretty on top of omega and significant other care.

➵ Like, weirdly so. It's honestly kind of creepy?

➵ In an endearing way.

➵ He always says 'Bokuto-Kun prepared me in a way.'

➵ Honestly, he loves doing this for you too!

➵He loves caring for you so much.

➵ Like I firmly believe Akaashi's love language is acts of service.

➵ So things like bringing you food, leaving sweet notes in your locker, helping you with your homework.

➵ He lives for doing these things.

➵ Especially feeding you snacks and things.

➵ It made his inner alpha purr because that meant he was caring for you. Providing for you.

➵ Being the very thing that made him worthy of an alpha.

➵ Prove that he could continue being the alpha you needed and wanted.

➵ Unfortunately, there were downsides.

➵ Your hips had the beginnings of small love handles, a little more chub on you tummy, thighs a little squishier.

➵ Let's not lie, Keiji absolutely adored this, by the way.

➵ I also think one of his biggest kinks is praise

➵ He makes sure you know how loved and how perfect you are.

➵ It's sometimes hard to believe him though.

___

"Y/N?"

You hummed an acknowledgment at Keiji's call, typing the final words to your essay before turning to look at your beautiful alpha- Sometimes you questioned how you hooked him. His gorgeous emerald eyes shining with love and adoration.

"I'm gonna go run and pick up some supper, what would you like beloved?" He came up to squeeze and massage your shoulders, leaning down as he pressed a small peck to your temple, your purr a sweet melody to his ears.

You swallowed behind your purr, trying to hide the small panic in your eyes. Your mind instantly flashed to your reflection this morning, how you pinched your hips with a frown. You already had been slowing down on the snacks, and fast food made you shiver.

"I-I'm okay for now, Keiji. Thank you though." You smiled, nonetheless, holding Keiji's cheek in your hand. He quirked a brow, frowning slightly before nodding lowly. Another peck was pressed to your cheek before he left, ordering your favorite from the diner he took you to for your first date.

-

"Beloved, I'm back." Keiji called, once more tearing you away from your essay; you were always thankful for the distraction though. He set down the take out bag, taking out the top box and handing it to you before shrugging off his jacket.

"Keiji? I said I was okay-"

"I didn't believe you. Now come on, you need to take a break and I'm touch starved." The raven didn't even look behind at you before pulling out his own box, dragging your rolley-chair to the bed. He pulled his sweater over his head, handing that to you as well before giving you a sweet peck.

His eyes locked with yours. Your breath hitched. So many silent words swam in his eyes, asking you, demanding you, to tell you what was wrong.

"I just- I've gained a little weight lately and-"

"And? My love, you are just as gorgeous as the day I met you. Nothing is wrong with a little weight, even if I think you're foolish to think you've gained weight. Never think otherwise. Even if you do, let me know, my job as your alpha and boyfriend is to make sure you feel as good as possible no matter what."

He slipped the sweater over your head, rehanding you your meal that he took from you momentarily, running a hand through your hair.

"Your my beautiful omega. Nothing should keep you from your happiness."

Wakatoshi Ushijima

➵Unlike Akaashi, Wakatoshi is little more...Hesitant (In a way) when it comes to omegan care.

➵ He never really learned how to? Ya know?

➵ Both his parents were alphas, and he was never around omegas consistently enough to learn.

➵and it's not like you were a volleyball that he could use the same techniques to up-keep.

➵ He also couldn't ask his team.

➵ Well, he could, but only one other person on his team had an omega. (It was Satori and his advice, though helpful, could only go so far.)

➵ He was doing good though, especially with you holding his hand through the entire thing.

➵ The first time he noticed something was up was when you didn't show up to lunch-- texting him a picture of you in the library, tongue poking out as you held up a peace sign to assure him you were okay.

➵ When he brought it up to Satori, who had his own omega (A small, but fiery brunette named Yuka) leaning on his side as she played some sort of phone game on his phone (Mama's slusheria? He thinks?) .

➵He explained he didn't know what was going on with you while Satori listened with a hum before giving him a sad smile. "Sorry I can't help you further Ushi-waka, but as you can see-" He slid his unfinished lunch towards Yuka, who popped one of the Dango skewers into her mouth without looking up. "I'm not very familiar with the problem."

➵ He offered his help as much as he could nonetheless.

➵ He slowly began to pick up on smaller things, locking them in his steel trap.

➵ Like a good boy :)

➵ He put hours of research into omegas after this (not that he hadn't previously). Keeping strenuous notes beside him.

➵ They were colorful and highlighted :)

➵ And he followed the advice that 'Mommy Luna-boo' posted on the blog he found like a goddamn Mantra. ('Sometimes Omegas need a little more love! Their bodies, especially during high school years, will change a lot! They may feel a little down! As an alpha, make sure you remind them how beautiful they are!')

➵She was mother Theresa and he was her follower.

➵ Well after he followed you.

➵and after he made sure you were feeling better

___

"Omega?"

"Toshi."

Walking into your dorm room, Wakatoshi set down a small bag filled with goodies. He set it down on your bed as he sat down as well, watching you carefully.

When you gave him a small smile with a quirked brow, he took a deep breath, remembering everything Tendou had coached him through.

"Have you been eating enough lately?"

You sucked your tongue at the question, shuffling your shoulders. Truth be told you had been missing out on a few lunches after noting a few extra pounds you hadn't noticed earlier. You never meant to worry him, that was never your intention, but it seemed the world was working against you. You had no clue where to go from here. If you told him the truth that would do nothing but worry him, but lying was never good in any form of relationship.

Your hesitance to tell him was more than enough though, as his larger lands encased your own, holding them tightly.

"Why?" His tone wasn't accusatory nor was it angry in the slightest. Genuine curious if anything. If he could get to the bottom of the root of the problem, he could prevent it from happening in the future. Right?

"I- I just...Noticed a few extra pounds and-"

"That's it?"

You looked up to him with a tilted head, like a lost puppy. "What do you mean that's it?"

Pulling you closer, Wakatoshi effortlessly pulled you onto his lap, using one hand to dig through the bag beside him while the other wrapped around your hips. He pulled out a few of your favorite snacks laying them out in front of you.

"That's, in my opinion, a silly thing to worry about. If you feel that's a big problem, I can offer my services to you in any way you wish-- whether it be support or as help, it is my job to be there for you." He nuzzled your scent gland, voice rumbling against your shoulders.

You purred in response, leaning back onto your alpha.

Rintaro Suna

➵ Suna is a lot like Akaashi in the sense that he has incredible observational skills as an alpha.

➵ His eyes are like sniper scopes.

➵ The minute something is wrong, he's on it.

➵ Like he looks aloof but he's not.

➵ He had notes.

➵ So hiding something from him is not easy at all.

➵ But you two most likely ended up together because you gave him a run for his money.

➵ You made him work at being an alpha.

➵ And he loved you for that.

➵ It did come back to bite him in the ass though.

➵ The only reason he heard about this was because the betas at Inarizaki were loud mouths.

➵ Honestly he learned so much tea from them.

➵ Like this third year was sleeping with a first year because she planned on baby trapping him and-

➵ It was wild.

➵Though most times it was nothing more than a source of entertainment for you and him to laugh about.

➵This time the gossip was actually useful.

➵ He wasn't thrilled they were talking about you, but provided some very useful information.

➵ And he was set into action.

➵ typing a few things onto his phone he set out to find you.

___

"Rin, I said I'm not hungry-"

"I know and I'm making the executive decision to ignore you."

He squinted his eyes at the carefully written instructions in front of him, sending a silent thanks to Atsumu's mate Haruka. (;)) She had written a step by step instruction sheet to making Onigiri while also dropping off all the ingredients (Pre-prepped). The only reason she didn't make it was because Suna's alpha, no matter how much he trusted her, wouldn't have let it near you.

"Rintato-"

"Look, Y/N. I love you, you know that. You know a lot of things, you're my smart little omega. So you must also know this isn't good, right?" Sliding a plate of, albeit mediocre, onigiri towards you, Rintaro focused his gaze on you.

"You know this, eh?"

You swallowed before grabbing one of the triangles, nibbling on the top in an attempt to appease your alpha. His sharp gaze still focused on you, making you shiver as he rounded around the counter. He turned you around so you were facing him, his hands holding your hips.

"You know this."

You wilted under his expectant gaze, knowing what he wanted from you. "I know this."

He smirked, leaning to take bite from your snack, licking his lips as he did. "Good omega."

"Rintaro that's mine!"

[draftingteacups]

Potions Incident

I just thought of something interesting for a Potions Accident for Soni and crew, and I wanna get it out there because I think it'd be interesting 👀

Note: There will be spoilers to certain chapters in The Eternal Blooming Flower as well as minor spoilers for Soni in particular. It took so long for this to get posted, but I finally did it! 🎉

The Incident

Of course, it all starts in Potions Class and they messed up their Potion

However, everyone in the group (Soni and the Braincell Trio) got affected and reverted into a younger form of themselves

The twist is that their personalities in that form are retained, meaning we'll see pretty different versions of the same characters we all know and love.

Let's meet them, shall we?

The Characters

Young Ace didn't change much from his older self, except he's more cheeky and hardly knows anyone in the group of people he's surrounded with; he understands that he's at NRC, but he doesn't realize it's the future until people tell him so

He's still with his Ex-Girlfriend until he sees his phone's texts

He assumes that his method of ghosting her worked before seeing the line of messages from her friends right after that

Young Ace doesn't know what to think of the girl who's wearing all-white clothing. NRC is an all-boys school, so seeing a girl here was weird, especially in a white and gold outfit that resembles RSA.

Young Ace and Young Soni (just like at the beginning of their friendship in canon) don't get along, mostly because Young Soni doesn't really care about Ace since she's focused on getting the hell home and away from everyone else

Young Deuce is the wild Delinquent™️ and he shows it in the way that he reacts to people; snarling at some people who think he's easy to pick on, his eyes showing that he's not at all afraid to establish dominance in this school, and just angry as hell

The one thing that his younger self would be very confused about is the little pink monster that clings to him with big watery eyes and confusion; it makes him feel uncomfortable

When the sole girl in the school tells him to hug the little monster, he tries to pick a fight with her; he's mostly nervous and confused as to why a girl is talking to him since girls (besides his mom and grandma) are afraid of him.

It honestly puts him on the edge of how little Young Soni cared about his feelings or what he said to make her go away

Makes him think what kind of life she lived if someone like him didn't scare her off for a split second

Young!Deuce: "Why the hell are ya tellin' me what to do-?!" Young!Soni: "This Happiny, for some Arceus-forsaken reason that I sure don't fucking see, cares about you, you ass. I don't fucking know what the hell is going on here, but at least I'm not a big enough asshole to let a little kid cry."

Young Deuce reluctantly hugs Happiny, which makes Happiny calm down from her tears; he softens at the sight.

Young Soni Monet that was brought back via Potion is roughly around the same time she got crowned Champion, meaning she is not at all calm about what's happened to her two years later

Young Soni in this period is wearing her Champion outfit at the time; Everything that's happened up until Chapter 9 of EBF happened.

Cue the reveal of her situation in TWST by Crowley

And yeah, Crowley was surprised by the explosion that happened afterward smh

Young Soni immediately demands answers from the bastard Crow without even caring about who the hell he was

Crowley's just getting flashbacks to her normal 16-year-old self when Soni demanded a pay raise with five different reasons as to why

This version of her just screamed so loud that it was like hearing the sound barrier shattering in his eardrums with very real facts mixed in

Young Ace just whistles at the amount of verbal ripping that Young Soni's pulling on Crowley while Young Deuce is just amazed by her sheer anger and vocal range mixed with swearing

When Young Soni realizes that this is all a temporary Potion accident and she'll be able to go home, she settles down

But she's also vicious about how long it's been since her older form had contacted home and how "such a gracious Headmaster of a prestigious magical academy should be able to do that much for her if he was so kind and powerful"

Yeah, Soni had way less of a filter back then, but she was 14 with less experience in talking and dealing with a whole lot of terrible things all at once.

Little Grim is a small mewing kitten that doesn't know words just yet; he squirms whenever Young Soni pets him, even biting her a few times on the hand

That doesn't stop Young Soni from doing it and brings him home to Ramshackle, which makes him wonder who the heck is this person

She was nice though and gave him canned tuna when he wanted it

She's also pretty strict on him, but she takes care of him, even when he fumbles around the dorm that they're staying at

Grim likes her better than the other two who pick on him for being a small, fire monster

However, all of them just sit in shame whenever Young Soni catches them trying to do something that lights a plant on fire and are subjected to her scolding-

Their Time Together

The four of them were to stay at Ramshackle for the time being and Young Soni had never wanted to leave everyone behind more than ever

Apparently, the Potion would wear off in a few days.

Young Ace wonders why someone who looks so RSA is at NRC, much less a girl, and the fact that she's magicless with weird familiars- it's just screaming "Who the heck are you?"

Very quickly, Young Ace and Soni get into an argument as to why she was so uptight and wanted to go home so much with Ace being Ace

She explodes on them like Chapter 4 of TEBF and tells them that she's the recently crowned Champion of her region that's on the edge of breaking apart from Team Flare's terror

Without her there, everything would fall into chaos because Young Soni trusted barely anyone at this point in time with her mother, grandma, Pokemon, and Sycamore (a smidge)

The Pokemon League was full of opportunists, the nobility was full of egotistical assholes who looked down on her, and the International Police were hardly any better at both qualities

Kitten!Grim can sense that his henchman (it's a thing that comes to him more easily than anything else) is horribly distressed and curls up with her

Aegis, who's been keeping watch over this whole thing, steps in and pulls the same intimidation trick from the mines on Ace

Soni doesn't stop Aegis this time

Young Ace is sweating because a scary-ass sword is trying to fight with him; his magic certainly can't fight it off

Happiny bursts into tears because Happiny cannot understand why everyone's so different and strange; Young Deuce panics and doesn't have the same knowledge as his normal self on handling Happiny

Young Soni takes the little one into her arms without thinking too much about it and just looks tired of everything

Young Soni can understand Pokemon at this point and Happiny's cries of why "Mama was arguing with Uncle Ace so much and why Daddy was acting so scary" made her head hurt

She was too young to be handling a baby Pokemon, but she was also too young to be handling a region

Soni tells the both of them (Young Deuce and Ace) that they'll have to work to earn their keep at the dorm and neither of them can argue when her Pokemon are looking at them like it's normal

Rumor Has It

Lemme clarify that it's strange to them how people are surprised by how they dislike one another in their younger forms

When in their normal forms, they got along more civilly, or more specifically, they were friends

Young Ace just stares at the little Alcremie that smooshed itself against his face and feels weirded out by the affection

He just doesn't understand why people group him with Deuce either or Soni when the both of them are so... different; he especially can't see himself talking with Soni regularly

Sure, he could admit she's cute, but that cuteness is hampered by that temper and expression on her face

There was no way that she ever smiled- absolutely not.

Young Deuce sees all of his test papers and is confused by why they're as high as they are, along with the lack of influence he has on the local delinquents of NRC

None of them get into fights with him because Soni's reputation at the school precedes her and Deuce wonders if she was the boss of their group

(She's the Braincell holder of the group, Young Deuce; you're not wrong lol)

Young Deuce sees the text messages from his mom and is quietly looking through the history of how proud she was for Deuce turning a new leaf and attending the school

His heart clenches when he sees his phone's note app and sees why he turned a new leaf; how he wrote it down so even if he forgot, it'd be the first thing he would see about himself

He sees text messages from his mom that pertain to him and Soni raising Happiny saying that "Happiny needs her mom and dad" and "she's happy to be a grandma" and for Deuce to "bring over his wife"; Young Deuce just flusters over it alksdfja

Young Soni tries to understand Twisted Wonderland all over again and it's unspeakable happiness to see Pokemon roaming around NRC

She stays with the Pokemon more than she stays with people, but the Pokemon are asking her about the two boys, which makes her go, "They're idiots"

Her Pokemon don't disagree on that 🤣

Soni in all her life never had friends that were human, but apparently, these guys were supposed to be hers? What kind of weirdoes were they?

Dior just smiles at her while Aegis huffs, but doesn't rebuff the statement of friendship

Young Soni feels embarrassed by the looks and doesn't understand why because there was something that she was missing and no one was telling her

It's All Coming Together

Eventually, they all come across her Rotom Phone and see a whole bunch of videos, photos, and voice recordings, spanning their friendship at NRC

Ace's interaction at the statues was the first of them; Young Ace is surprised by his older self and laughs at the stuff that he says before the ensuing chaos

Young Deuce is watching the fight between Grim and Ace, curiously; he'd be commenting on it and saying things like "Nice dodge", "Nice shot", etc..

Young Soni just looks at older herself being annoyed from the background, but not as angry as she would've been. She's a little surprised by the Feebas in a bucket though.

Little Grim is asleep through all of this.

Young Ace and Deuce just freak out at Mila's Surf (as a Feebas) and just ask Soni questions about it

Young Soni feels like she's entertaining a bunch of kids with how excited they got about it and does her best to fill in the gaps of their lack of Pokemon knowledge

Next were a bunch of photos during their baking experience and the little quotes underneath told the story; Young Ace rubs his neck at the idea of having that collar on his neck

Young Soni's annoyed at having to deal with this kind of crap when she was so obviously tired from everything else; looking at the dates alone, this was done within the same week

The next photos were taken at random points with Soni picking up Grim in the lunch line, a card game with Soni and Deuce in the background while a little pink Egg was between them and blue flames were in the corner, and so many more.

There were a lot of Happiny videos, and the thing is, there were subtitles, so everyone could understand what Happiny was saying.

Deuce is in every single one of them, holding out his arms for Happiny to which the little one just runs into them.

"Daddy!" is repeated so many times over and Young Ace nearly got beat up by Young Deuce after making a comment about how corny it was.

Hearing Happiny calling Soni "Mommy/Mama" the first time was a trip for Young Ace and Deuce, even though the latter knew about it, it was still surprising

Even more so when Soni starts smiling at Happiny, as though she forgot the video was recorded; what really sold the shock was that Soni laughed

Young Soni hasn't smiled or laughed in the time that she's been here and honestly, for a good long time

Seeing her older self smile at Happiny made her feel weirdly relieved in a way.

Like she could and would be happier in the future when there was less bullshit to deal with. That things would get better with time.

Endless memories of study sessions, world explorations, and precious moments passed them all and finally ends in silence.

The Aftermath

Young Ace doesn't know how to react at that moment, especially when he knows himself well enough to understand that he really was friends with them all.

Young Deuce was hugging Happiny who indulges in the comfort of his hugs; he doesn't know when he'll meet Happiny again nor does he know if he'll remember this

But he at least wants to apologize for putting Happiny through that initial distress and hugs her when she pats his cheek, looking happy

Young Soni feels way too many things when she sees those memories of an older version of her

The biggest one is anger because she's angry that it took going to another world to have people who seemed to not care about her title besides the few she was attached to

It didn't give her much hope when she scrolled through her contacts and saw numerous blocked numbers from multiple nobles and other numbers that she has long blocked on her Holo Caster

The next is a familiar sense of sadness as she realizes that there were people who would be her friend only if to have the privilege of being a Champion's friend and not Soni's friend

The next is peace, oddly enough.

To know that, one day, she'll be able to smile as freely as her older self is enlightening, even if she was going to be surrounded by idiots.

Somehow that wasn't a bad deal if it meant she was happy.

That night, they all gathered up a bunch of mattresses and test out the whole sleepover idea; it'd never been more chaotic with Grim trying to snatch the snacks they were betting

The next day, they were all back to normal and they all remembered what happened.

All of them were embarrassed to certain degrees

Ace was the least obvious, acting like nothing had changed between them because it really hadn't.

There were times when his eyes went soft, but they went quickly back to that familiar cheekiness that they were accustomed to

Ace had a tendency to joke more around Soni, sometimes saying if she'd be willing to wear white again cause of her Champion outfit

Grim was more needy and catty with affection, especially towards Soni with more pets, more canned tuna, and more naps

Grim sits in her lap and stays there, even if Lucius glared at him; it was his spot

Deuce was more involved with Happiny than he already was and ensures that Happiny never experiences that level of sadness ever again

Happiny doesn't mind it, but hopes that Deuce's past self would be okay without her; Deuce cries at her kindness when Soni translates it

Soni smiles more at the whole scenario but tries to hide it because it's so dumb for her to feel so happy about something so simple

There's also a quiet sense of familiarity in their actions with one another after that