#google is deadly to writers

[alfietimewolf]

[arcdreamer]

Memo oct 15, 2023

Did I at first dig into Pinterest to scout a photo, before I begin the whole writing down? Yes. Absolutely I did exactly so. It’s the idea of “what will be the windows through which I’ll see the world next?”. Does it relate? Can you tell me that you’ve never given it a thought? I love how the world takes to look different from all the different places I get to visit and see. From the windows of…

[winterarmyy]

Welcome Home, Daddy

The aftermath of when Bucky accidentally relapsed into the Winter Soldier.

Summary: Bucky was over the moon when he discovered that Y/N was pregnant with his child. But, when the danger that lurks in dark threatened to steal his family away, a fellow soldier decided to come home.

Note: Highly recommend to read 《 Welcome Home... Soldat? 》 for backstory. But, you can also read this as a stand alone (though you might miss some call backs on the soldat's behaviour if you skip)

Pairing: winter soldier!bucky x female!reader

Words: 7.1k++ (bare with me, please)

Warnings: graphic violence, torture, blood, gore, deaths, dark undertones, sudden fluff, tiny bit of angst, google translated russian, and just so much detained anger exploding around, soldat is just deadly yet adorable in this one (i can't even handle it, and i'm the author), this event takes place far in the future after what happened in 《 Welcome Home...Soldat? 》

A/N: Looks like we have the winner for the poll 👀 Who's ready for our lovely soldat to make his appearance again? I know I'm not, but here we are. So, strap in and let's do this!

P/S: Also, I might as well make this as my submission for the seven writing event hosted by @nickfowlerrr 💌 Check out the event masterlist and support the writers by reading and reblogging their stories!

Read my other works here: Masterlist

They say the wrath of a fighter may threatened a heinous war but the wrath of a lover will let the earth drenched in bloody gore. And if a fool was daft enough to tore a lover from his other half, then they might just court themselves right into the hands of death.

And this couldn't be more true, especially if we consider the crime that the soldat was currently committing. Surely, the blood pooling on the floor will forever leave a grim mark that'll haunt the people who ever witness it.

"Where is she?" the soldat prompted the frail woman, limping on the chained chair. Despite the horrid situation, he sounded rather calm when he spoke.

How unfortunate it was for Elle to be associated with Hydra yet to also be so exposed to the dangers of the ghost himself, the Winter Soldier. Hydra may have their suspicion about the soldat making a move, but she didn't expect that she would be involved in the mess of this ordeal.

The cold metal of the soldat's vibranium fingers, particularly his index and thumb, latched themselves on another one of her nails. Her mouth slacked open but no sound was able to be formed when the soldat mercilessly ripped her nail right off her finger.

And oh, the pain was beyond any kind of injury that she had ever experienced, not a even a bullet through her flesh could be compared to this agony of a torture.

He harshly grabbed Elle by the back of her neck, forcing her to watch the blood leaking from the reddened flesh of her fingers, "I asked you a simple question, су́ка (bitch). Where the fuck is she?" The soldat's patience had been running thin and rage had clouded his judgements.

He needed to find her. His precious Родная (darling).

No matter whose neck he needed to slay or whose blood that have to be shed dry. He had to bring his darling home; no matter what it takes.

Unfortunately, it had been almost a month since he lost her.

And no one saw it coming.

Who would've thought that the old Hydra compound that the team raided were meant to be a part of a plan to weaken the Avengers. It was just a distraction filled with unexpected traps and triggers. By the time they flew home, the team were already tired and injured as the result of the raid.

So imagine the desperate struggle and utter panic that Bucky had to go through the moment he stepped his foot into the comfort of their home and had to witness Y/N's exhausted figure fighting for her life.

Hers and the baby's inside.

After hitting the 2 months mark of pregnancy, Bucky decided that Y/N shouldn't be involved in any high stake mission anymore. At first, she only laughed to his statement, thinking he was surely joking but when his stern expression didn't flatter, that was when she reliazed Bucky was not open for negotiation.

Y/N knew it was way too early to settle into her maternal leave but after having a long conversation with Bucky, they both agreed to keep her missions strictly on low-risk stakeouts and desk works at the tower.

It was supposedly be some kind of a precaution for her, to keep her and the baby safe, away from any type harm that might come their way. But, that certainly back fired.

When Bucky's burning anger had pumped him full with high stream of adrenaline, it was as if he went into an auto pilot; a murderous one at that. And soon enough he managed to take down half of Hydra's best agents that joined the mission of collecting Y/N from the tower.

For a moment, it seemed like luck was on their side, at least it felt like it.

It lasted only until Bucky saw how harsh the kick of the enemy landed on Y/N's hip, and how she managed to shield her stomach seconds before her body slammed down to the ground.

That was when fear crawled into his pumping nerves and the roots of it ran extremely cold.

And that was all it takes for Hydra to distract Bucky then immobilize him on the spot with a replica of the Sonic Taser developed by Stark Industries a few years back.

Bucky grunted painfully in protest of the high pitched sonic frequency from the device that overloads his nervous system. His body couldn't help but to slowly paralyzed its movements as his skin turned pale and the strain in his blood vessels became visible.

On the opposite side, Y/N could be seen being forcefully dragged away by a few of the Hydra agents that was left. There were couple of nasty injuries torn all over her body yet she was still stubborn on fighting back.

While she was being pulled farther away from him, she shouted his name loud and desprete, "Bucky!" Hot tears broke from the corner of her eyes as she desperately reach out her hand.

It felt as if she was right there when Bucky's hand was reaching back towards her. Like, a little bit of a push would've been enough to catch her but alas fate was not planning to be merciful.

Bucky's menancing eyes never left her wavering ones as Hydra tortured Bucky by stealing a part of his soul from him; and no one really knew how his heart clenched and torn to the fact that he was helplessly useless when Y/N needed him the most.

And when he only managed to scream back Y/N's name, he was forced to watch her wailed as she was unwillingly being taken away.

The moment when Bucky drowned himself in regret and rage, that was when the Winter Soldier took over his consciousness.

Unfortunately for the soldat, his mortal body was already worn out from all the intense fight that happened prior; he was knocked out right after he took over the body.

But in those few seconds before the darkness consumed him, the soldat managed to catch a glimpse of his darling. He saw the image of her; teary and bruised in the hands of those who created him. The very same monsters who uses him for despicable things.

That was all that he needed to see in order to break those chains around the dark pandora residing deep within his being.

The team was absolutely not ready to deal with the soldat again, this time without Y/N to tame him. Especially when his demands were unrealistic for them to fulfill.

It's been nearly 3 weeks since the incident and they had failed to locate Y/N; repeatedly. Even if they did manage to get some kind of an intel, all the of bases they had raided were basically bunch of abandoned spaces that Hydra used to occupy.

So of course the soldat was agitated. He had every right to be, more so when he thought of the increasing risk of his darling getting hurt in the hands of Hydra. And at this point, those scumbags were just messing with their minds. Especially with his.

"Listen, we're doing our best here, soldat." Steve tried to reason with him but it only fueled the burning flames within the soldat, "ты делаешь недостаточно! (You're not doing enough!)" He spat harshly that he didn't even noticed that he uses Russian language. It seemed like the unkempt irritation had conquered the chaos of his mind.

So that very night, the soldat decided to do this on his own; thus he ran away from the tower in search for his darling. He had to. Especially when he knew precisely why the Avenger was not able to find Y/N as quickly as they should be.

It was because they were the good guys. They were the heros, they were the light. And the soldat was not. In fact, he was the very opposite.

Unlike the Avengers, the soldat was not planning to play  nice and soon enough he managed to find a lead.

Which bring us to this very moment in which he successfully snuck into a Hydra agent's home to interrogate her.

But, in contrast of those Hydra troops that attack the Avengers Tower a few weeks ago, Elle was not even involved in the mission of retrieving Y/N. She was actually on a solo mission to infiltrate a certain high school to collect informations on Peter Parker. Hydra suspected that he might be involved with the new hero appearing in Queens.

However, even if she was not a part of the team mission, she knew bits and pieces of the overall plan, especially the whereabout of the main character herself, Y/N.

However, the appearance of the Winter Soldier in her temporary house was completely unexpected.

It felt like it was just few moments ago that the intel on Y/N's location reached her ears. Then, she distinctly remember the glimpse of those murderous eyes glaring into her soul. Next thing she knew was everything went pitch black.

Even if it was temporary, however it felt so surreal.

The darkness surrounding her.

The bone rattling cold.

It felt like death itself.

But unfortunately for her, the soldat was far from stopping.

Elle was fraying at the edges while the soldat crouch to her level. Even if she could barely reconstruct the unclear and blurry images through her dazed eyes, however, that didn't stop the soldat from maiming the dying woman's soul through his unforgiving gaze.

"Wake up..." he growled as he yanked her face upwards, "...we're not done yet."

It took a while for Elle to finally adjust to the light, after being in the dark for – how she felt like – so long.

After the light hits her vision, the striking pain came next. The pulsing pain surrounding of her right eye, her broken nose, her busted lips, her bleeding skin; neck, chest, arms, and almost every part of her limbs.

Everything were – slowly but surely, in each cuts and bruises on her skin – blooming its pain into existence.

How can she skipped all of this when she lost her consciousness?

Perhaps that was how she managed to stay alive as long as she had. By running away from the misery; from her reality.

Elle whined in pain but her voice suggested that she might already torn her throat apart when it sounded more like a broken grunt. Her disoriented gaze fell into her aching fingers, each were missing its nail; the tips of them was where the icky blood trickled from and had shaped a pool of blood on the floor where she rested.

The dim lighting from the room reflected on the surface of the deep-red puddle, revealing the resemblance of it to a mirror. And the blurry image looking back, was the soldat, with a sinister expression on his face.

This game, that they're playing.

It hardly seems fair to one of them. To be tortured if not speaking the truth? That's simply unjust; but if we're talking about fairness, then none of those injuries could ever be compared to the pain Y/N might be going through at this very moment. Every second of Elle's useless stubbornness was costing Y/N's safety.

And the soldat didn't like that. Not one bit.

"You mentioned Spain? Where exactly?" In one swift, harsh motion, the soldat thrust his knife through her thighs, "FUCK!"

The loud scream of pain that tore from Elle's throat was probably the last coherent word that she uttered as the torture continued.

The soldat pulled the knife out and stabbing it into the open wound, he listened to Elle's gasp for a moment, relishing her breathless pleading and the tears now openly streaming down her face.

He stabbed again, twice, each was quick and deep, not caring about the blood that spurted out across his face.

At this point Elle was just a puddle of blabbering mess; streams of saliva pouring out her mouth, sobbing, gasping for air; mixture of grunts, moans and whispers of curses and pleas were all spouted incoherently.

Anger.

Frustration.

Rage.

Wrath.

Even hatred.

The soldat was feeling it all.

It was consuming him, devouring any sanity that was left of Bucky's moral values. The eerie glint in the soldat eyes suggested that he was not planning to stop until she gave him what he wants.

God, if it wasn't for chilling atmosphere around her, Elle might just mistook that she was actually in hell.

"Pyrenees!" She cried out. The soldat instantly stopped when she confessed. He waited for an answer and right on cue, she spoke again, breathless and almost silent as the fear that engulfed her prior refused to release her from its haunting grip. And truthfully she doubt that it will ever let her go, "T-there a secret base n-near the Irati forest."

She exhaled a shaky breath as she pleaded, "S-so please. Please stop this." The was tired of the pain and the numbness that came after. And the soldat knows it.

The room was left silent momentarily, as if he was actually considering her plea but alas he already had plans for her all along, "Shame. You should've killed yourself before I came here."

As he finished the last word, the soldat viciously plunged his knife deep into her neck, digging the sharpness of it through the delicate flesh until it reach the base of the blade.

Elle gasped in response, her hands scrabbling around in effort to break free, to stop all of this. But considering the situation she was in, there was nothing she could do about it other than to take it as it was given to her.

When the motion finally stopped, the soldat simply walked away from the scene as if it was a complete norm for him to behave as he was. He didn't even thought of cleaning the mess he left behind. Or hide the corpse somewhere.

Isn't he afraid that he might leave his tracks for the police to find?

Why would he?

This has been his life for decades on end. His sole purpose of living was to kill. So best believe that the authorities will never be able to link the soldat or Bucky to this crime.

Not today, not ever.

Through the days that Y/N was locked deep within Hydra's base, she hadn't been treated the worst. In fact, the sick and twisted agents and residents in the facility was more than willing to care for her.

This was all because they wanted her baby.

It was always sickening to hear them referring her child as merely a tool for their success. And the way they worship Y/N like she was a gift from God to fulfill their purpose, was beyond insanity.

"Oh, to have the privilage of bearing the offspring of the Winter Soldier. To be able to create the perfect weapon, unlike the father. It is just honorable."

It made her stomach churned with pure disgust whenever she heard those types of comments floating around her.

Besides the eerily digusting behaviour of the agents, there was also the regular check-ups and the lab tests that she needed to attend. Out of all the things she had to endure these past few weeks, the medical check-up has always dreaded her the most.

There was this constant debate within her troubled mind; of the possibility of Hydra manipulating her baby's health and genes by inserting unknown substance into her.

"Come on, mama. On the bed." The doctor said as he patted his rubber gloved hand on the surface of the rigid single bed.

She always found it vile that the people here calling her by that nickname. It tickled her throat in a way that she wanted to puke all the tasteless gunk that they had fed her with.

As she laid on the bed and let the process went on as it usually do, the doctor suddenly stopped everything that he was doing. At first she was weirded out by the irregular act of the man, but when she felt the vibration on the ground and the rushing footsteps from the floor above her, she knew exactly why the doctor suddenly froze on his spot.

And the emergency siren that shortly blared after, had only confirmed her speculation.

But mostly, it was the panic in the doctor's eyes that gave him away; then when Y/N noticed the man scrambled to search the drawers from one of the cabinet, she knew that he was up to no good.

The second that the doctor's hurried his steps towards her with a syringe in his hand, Y/N's body immediately recoiled. She quickly stopped him by grabbing his wrist and twisted it back until the syringe dropped from his hold.

The man cursed under his breath and decided to take her by force when he grabbed a handful of her hair, almost dragging her out of the bed. Y/N shrieked painfully while her hands blindly grabbing the silver tray by the bed next to her.

She then slammed it hard against his head, and watched the contents on the tray fell and scatter onto her. She took quick skim over all the tools and saw a potential weapon for her defence; a scissor.

"Stay still, mama. Or the baby will get hurt." The doctor foolishly threatened.

Maybe it was her defence mechanism or maybe it was just her motherly instinct kicking in but something just snapped inside of her when he said those words. There was this incredibly strong urge to either fight or take flight.

Of course she could easily slipped away and make a run for it but she just couldn't risk it. Especially when her baby's life was currently at stake. So, after a short moment of hesitation, she swiftly grabbed the scissors and surge it through his ribs. The man wailed in pain as he staggered off the bed and fell onto the floor.

You'd thought a single yet firm stab through the guts was enough to quench Y/N's need of fighting back but no. Apparently, the haywire of her nerves had drove her feral and she needed him to be soulless by the time she walk out the room.

That had forced her to nearly jumped on him like a predator pinning on a meek prey and the lack of struggling on the victim's side had only gave her full control to dominate him.

Then all of the sudden, the doctor felt another strike of the pain, digging into the flesh of his chest.

He woefully cried in extreme pain while Y/N did not utter a single word or let out any sound, she stayed silent as she thrusts the scissor in and out his flesh.

Each surge was vicious than the previous. Each stab was gradually speeding up as the motion increases it's number of repetition.

She completely let her emotions took over her sanity.

Until what's left in the room was only the sloshing and splashing sound of blood seeping through every thrust, as she continued to violate the body of the corpse.

Until the calm puddle of blood on floor rippled as the tears that broke from her eyes dropped on it's surface.

And when she realized that the doctor was long dead, that broke Y/N out from her feral state. Realizing what she had done; she shakily loosen her grip on the scissors and scrambled off from the lifeless body.

Her breath was near erratic; it was a chaos of unsteady rhythm as her words was lost at the tip of her tongue. She jolted in shock when the commotion in the facility got louder than before, reminding her that Bucky was there to save her.

Y/N felt a sob choking in her throat as her hands searched her stomach to coax the child in her womb, "It's okay sweet bean, daddy's here for us."

Have you ever heard how ear-ringingly loud it is when it's hailing? How the sounds of the frozen raindrops hitting – the top of your car or the roof of the shades of an outdoor café table – can completely mute your words for anyone to hear?

That has nothing compared to the thundering sounds that echoed throughout the whole facility. The shots were fired from multiple range of stolen guns, all were coming from one moving figure.

The once clean grey and white painted walls of the hallways, were now stained and splattered with the color of crimson. The usually empty hallways, were occupied by the dead bodies of fallen Hydra agents. And the distinct scent of well-kept lair, were effortlessly replaced by the unpleasant and pungent smell; a mixture of blood and sweat.

It was a clear trail of the Winter Soldier's deeds.

This place was supposed to be pristine, but now feels more like how it should be; hell.

While the enemies were roaring into their death, the soldat on the other hand was very much the opposite.

Unlike his foe, it took him very little work from the tips of his tongue and much more on the tips of his gun. When the enemies barked like a dog, the soldat pounced like a wolf; silent and resilient.

By nature, the soldat had never been a patient man, especially when it comes to people harming his darling.

Sure, maybe he can tolerate and play along with people who messed with him, but if one were to touch even a strand of hair of his beloved, then they practically reserving themselves a first class ticket of a one-way trip to hell.

And that unhinged tendencies of his only worsen when wrath was the one reigning his mind while hatred was its ruler. His mind was nothing but a chaos of rampage and vengeance. Seeking nothing but blood and death of his foolish foe.

At this point of time, with the amount of life he had taken from the moment he step foot into the gate of the base, to the very stairs he was currently climbing, one could probably matched his heart rate with the rhythm of the shots formed by the bullets he shot.

Magazine upon magazine he reloaded his gun and waste no less than zero bullet as every shot made was accurately deadly and terrifying fatal to his prey.

As the soldat's feet reached half way up the stairs, a Hydra agent's voice spoke from the lower level, "She's on the LG2, we need a team to come and collect her as soon as poss--" A bullet went straight through the top of his head before he could finish his sentence.

And that was the soldat's last ammo.

While he mentally took note on the intel, his feet was quick to jumped into action and made his way down to LG2. As he entered the hallway, his wild eyes wondered around to steal another gun from a dead man's body.

But he rose into a stand, he felt a tip of a cold steel nudged at the back of his head.

Some would call out the soldat's mistake for letting his guard down in the middle of a battle, but another would definitely ridicule the stupidity of that fool's guts for even thinking that the soldat couldn't counter-attack his weak threats.

However, none of the two man managed to made any move towards each other when there was a faster, more accurate trigger was pulled from someone else, from across the hallway.

And that action left an aftermath of the fool's body to drop flat on the floor, quickly finding it's perfect spot with between the other pile of corpses scattered around.

When the soldat turned around, the sharp of his gaze softened almost immediately.

There she was standing there, in the pastel blue of her 'prison' attire. Her hair was a bit messy even if it was tied, and her complexion looked slightly pale with fatigue but to the soldat, she was glowing like angel; despite the blood on her clothes or the gun in her hand.

She was right there.

His heart.

His love.

His darling.

Her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had been crying for days. Her pouty lips trembled when the soldat stepped closer and closer towards her, tears threatening to fall as if she haven't done that during all the weeks that she had been here.

The soldat's steps grew faster.

So does Y/N's.

Tap taping until they were almost running towards each other.

Until the moment they reunited in the middle.

Catching each other's lips in a desperate and insatiable kiss, the soldat pulled her body tight around the waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Both whimpered in a yearning moan, both still had their guns hanging on one of their hands.

So many feelings at once, relief and grief, with each of them had a different story to tell.

The couple kept breaking and mending the kiss ever-so-passionately as if they weren't in the middle of the grave-less cemetery; as if they weren't in the center of the piling corpses.

Briefly opening his eyes, the soldat could see a shadow running towards them. When Y/N heard the footsteps from her back, she knew they need to pull away, but the soldat was firm and stubborn with his hold.

So instead of letting her break the kiss, he groaned in disapproval and pulled her lips back to his. An angry growl vibrated against her lips as he continued to explore her wet and warm mouth.

Caught off-guard she melted to his silent demand, almost forgot that the enemy was right behind her. But, she should've know better when the soldat loosen one of his arms from the embrace and pointed his gun towards the target.

His finger pulled the trigger almost as easily as his teeth tugging into the bottom of her lips. And suddenly the sound of a body collapsing behind didn't matter anymore.

When the soldat felt that he had enough of the sweetness of her kiss, he finally pulled away, at least for now. He whispered dearly, "Родная (darling)..." he cupped her face in his large hands and rested his forehead on hers.

She thought she heard it wrong, but did he just called her darling? It took her a few second to piece it together and realized that this man was not Bucky, that he had relapsed into the Winter Soldier again, "Soldat?"

The soldat smiled and leaned forward to steal a chaste kiss on her lips, "Yes, it's me, мое Родная (my darling)" he cooed as he swept her by her feet, off the bloody ground and carried her in his arm, "I got you, Куколка (little one). You can rest now."

"We're just wanted make sure she's alright."

"You can follow us if you want so just please--"

"Soldat! You're going to hurt her."

The familiar voices leaked through Y/N's ears as she was drifting through her dreamless slumber. Soon enough, the loud commotion of her surrounding woke her up from the deep sleep.

The words that the Avengers were yelling out became clearer as she gained her consciousness, and the ever-changing movements of the soldat, evading every step the Avengers made to get closer to him, made her aware of the way she was resting in his arms; perfectly cocooned in a form of a bridal carry style.

The soldat halted on his spot when Y/N opened her eyes to see what was going on, "Soldat?" She blinked multiple times as she adjusted to the lights. The menacing frown of the soldat melted into a much softer expression, "Родная(darling), you shouldn't be awake yet." He craddled her closer to him as he cooed.

Where is she? How long was she out? When did she changed her clothes?

"What is happening?" She asked as she peered over his shoulder to see Natasha sighing in relief, "Sweetheart, thank god you're awake."

Y/N then looked over to Steve, "You've been gone for weeks, y/n. We got news about your rescue yesterday, and you guys just arrived home. Now, if we could just to take you to the medbay and get you check-up, that'll be great." He briefly explained.

"Yeah, that's all we want isn't it? But, someone just had to be sappy and refuse to let anyone touch you. You know, how it is with the soldier." Tony quickly intercepted.

The soldat didn't pay them any attention now that his darling was awake. He was merely focusing on whispering the sweetest things as he traces delicate trails of kisses on her forehead, her nose, her cheek, basically all over her face.

Sam took it as opportunity to get closer when the soldat was distracted on suffocating Y/N with kisses. But he should learn by now how alert and agile the soldat can be, especially when he have Y/N close to his proximity.

So, when Sam took a step closer, the soldat recoiled almost immediately, putting quite of a distance between them.

"Man, if Bucky has a staring problem, then the winter soldier over here has a hogging problem." Sam accusingly pointed at the soldat, only getting grunts as a reply.

Looking at the current situation, Y/N pondered for awhile. As much as she wanted to get herself check-up, it was also wise to not pressure the soldat to give her away.

Considering what she witnessed at the Hydra base, Y/N knew the risk that comes when we let the soldat dwell in anger for too long.

So she consulted the rest of the team to back down for now, and let the soldat do what he wants. Y/N promised them that she will conviced the soldat to let her get a check-up as soon as possible. But for now, they really need to trust her words.

At first every one of them was reluctant to let her go but in the end they agreed to her suggestion.

When the team spread out and gave some space for the soldat, he didn't waste any time and marched straight to where their bedroom supposed to be. As soon as they arrived at their safe space, the soldat almost threw Y/N onto the bed and swiftly drew a knife from the holster of his thigh as his predatory eyes searched the room.

He refused to move even an inch away from where he stood and remained close to Y/N; shielding her figure with his own.

It was very faint, but the soldat could sensed that they weren't the only ones in the room.

Y/N eyed him curiously, wondering why the soldat was still on edge when he wasn't supposed to. So, she hopped off from the bed and stood on her feet before reaching out to hug the soldat from behind.

"You can put the knife down, soldat. It's just us here." She coaxed but the soldat refused to believe her. He pulled her by the arms, breaking her hug in the process and hold her close to his chest, "There's someone else here."

His actions was rather rougher than he intended it to be; even Y/N was startled by the sudden movement, "Oooff, careful there, soldat. You might give the little one a fright." She chuckled softly as she give her belly a loving rub.

And suddenly his attention was completely focused on Y/N now. Usually his frown symbolized irritation, but this time there was a clear confusion in his eyes. The amount of appalled blinking of his eyes increases when the puzzle pieces in his head started to merge.

The soldat knew that he heard a third heartbeat in the room; that was why he was on alert for threats but apparently he had been closer to the source than he thought was.

In fact, it was right his arms. Or maybe a little bit lower, somewhere around his torso.

Y/N didn't say anything, she simply nodded and smiled up to him as she continued to rub her belly.

When the conclusion finally hits him, the soldat dropped the knife in his hand at the same time he fell on his knees. His gaze never broke from hers, not even a split second, until he was face to face with her tummy.

The soldat leaned one side of his ear closer to her and the thumping sound of the third heartbeat got louder. The discovery had caused him to jolt away as shock decorated his features. He titled his head upwards to Y/N with the same wide, confused look in his blue eyes.

"It's okay, love." She giggled amusingly when the soldat repeated his previous actions. He leaned in and jolted back again as if he couldn't believe what he just heard was real, "Is it... his?" The soldat asked as he implied his existance to be separated from Bucky.

There was a hint of sadness in Y/N's expression when he said it like that. There's been many long conversations that she and Bucky had about the soldat after his first relapse.

Though Bucky was still unsure of his own dissociating self, Y/N on other hand believed that the soldat, this particular man whose drenched the earth with blood just to save her, the same man whose currently on his knees to hear a heartbeat of an unborn child; he deserved a little kindness in his life.

"Yes..." Y/N answered truthfully before she continued, "...and he's yours too."

And that surely knocked the air out of the soldat's lungs, he couldn't tell if she was telling him the truth or was just trying to kill him; either way the butterflies in his chest was suffocating him from the inside.

The soldat couldn't speak a single word; because he didn't know what to say. But there was this beam on his features, light in his eyes, softness on his smile when he dreamily stared at her growing belly.

Y/N took him by his flesh hand and place his palm on her stomach, then she spoke tenderly to the baby inside her, "Wanna say hi to daddy, sweet bean? Say, 'Welcome home, daddy.' "

She knew it was silly, because obviously the child in her womb shouldn't be able to speak, and he was not yet developed enough to be kicking his feet. Hell, they don't even know his gender yet.

But how could she not say it when the soldat looked so damn happy when she did. He looked so peaceful and has this daze and some of those twinkling hearts in those steel-blue eyes of. The soldat sighed in pure joy before he leaned to kiss her stomach.

And as it turns out that was all she needed to do to persuade the soldat to letting her see the doctors. He was there through the whole process, refusing to let go of her hand. It was such a good news to hear that the baby was healthy and there wasn't any foreign substance that might contaminated her during her times in Hydra.

After getting proper medical care and some food in her system, the soldat immediately carry her back to their room to settle down. While she laid on the bed, making up for the lost time to finally get the mental rest she desperately needed, the soldat on the other hand, had made himself comfortable by lying his head on her stomach.

He just couldn't stop; as if he was hypnotised by the melody of the baby's heartbeat. His hand snuck under her shirt, lifting the fabric up to reveal the belly where their miracle resides.

Y/N's droopy eyes followed his actions as she watched how carefully the soldat approached her. Out of habit, her hands absentmindedly rake through the softness of his hair as she held him by the head.

The soldat dotingly caressed the child's sleeping chambers as he leaned closer to it, "...Hi there, little one." he greeted with a quiet and loving whisper.

Immediately, a smile beamed brightly on Y/N's face when the soldat proceed to pamper her belly with countless of tender kisses, "...it's daddy." he introduced himself, as if the baby was able to understand him.

The silence that came after was so sweet and comfortable. And Y/N knew she wouldn't be able to have this without the soldat. She tucked a piece of his loose strand of hair behind his ear when she spoke gently, "Thank you for saving me, soldat."

He briefly lifted his head and smiled up at her, "You know I can't live without you Родная (darling). I will always need you." He declared a truthful confession before turning his attention away. His lips grazed on the skin of her belly as he mumbled against it, "And you too, little one."

Y/N could burst into tears just from this interaction alone but she try not to. She doesn't want to look back at this moment and remember how much she wept, so she blinked her tears away while she watched the soldat spoiled the little buddle of joy inside her with so much endearments.

Even though it was always a happy memory for the soldat when he spend time with his darling, but this... this was rare. And he wanted to cherish it for as long as he could.

The soldat laid on his ears again when he peered from where he had his head rested, his deep gaze captured her attention, "Has he been taking care of you good, darling?" He asked.

The soldat probably had no idea how Bucky adored her; if anyone paid enough attention they might even caught him worshipping the very ground she stepped on.

A breathy chuckle escaped from her mouth as nodded with a drunken grin, "He's the best." She hummed approvingly, "Best husband, and best daddy too." She exclaimed brightly as she glanced at the ring on her finger; it was barely visible through the thick of the soldat's hair.

Surprisingly, the soldat didn't react negatively to her remarks, instead, a proud smile curved on his lips as the pride in his chest overflowed and leaked all through his very being, "Good." He simply said.

The smile lines on the corner of his eyes didn't flatten even when he closed his eyes. For a moment, he tried to silenced everything else around him and focused on the fluttering sounds of the baby's tiny heart.

It might have been the thick haze of lavender smoke in their head or the swarming butterflies in their chest, that they didn't even notice the fatigue that had been slowly taking over them, until the tenderness of their caresses were barely moving.

When the heaviness of her eyes weighted the lids, she sleepily asked the soldat, "Will you still be here when I wake up?" Truth to be told, she was afraid that all of this was just a dream; an escape from reality of the cruel captivity.

The soldat briefly opened his own tired eyes and cooed softly, "I'm always with you, Родная (darling)." And Y/N took it as a promise for her desprete soul to cling on; a ray of hope for her to hold onto, if she ever wakes up in that cell again.

Not long after, both of them lost to the lure of somnolent and their soul quickly drifted into the peaceful dreamland. Soft snores were filling the quiet of the room as their mortal body continued to entangled themselves with each other.

It was safe to say that if Steve would ever barge into the room, he'd probably maxed the storage of his phone with photos of the soldat smushing his face on Y/N's belly as she perfectly curled around him.

Maybe it was the sunlight leaking through the window or maybe it was the intense gaze she felt burning on the skin of her face. Eitherway, it certainly disturbed her from her sleep.

When her body stirred, Y/N realized that she didn't need to open her eyes to know that last night was not a dream, especially when she can feel a pair of familiar arms wrapping around her waist under her shirt.

Y/N slowly peeled her eyes open to see a recognizable ceiling. Her eyes then trailed to her side and met a pair of blue of eyes staring back at her. Her gaze searched for the soul within him and found the semblance of Bucky reflected in his eyes.

Still dazed from sleep, she continued to watch him blinking at her, slowly and silently, like a cat declaring their love to their human. But even then, he couldn't hide the afterglow of the tears on his face.

"Bucky, honey. Have you been crying?" Her voice rasped from lack of use, yet her tender fingers find themselves crawling across his wet cheeks. 

It was as if her voice was a trigger, and tears quickly reformed in Bucky's eyes again. Y/N gently pulled him to her chest, one hand threading his hair and another rubbing his back as he sobbed in her arms, "It's okay, Bucky. We're okay." She continued to coax him lovingly.

They spend most of the early morning holding each other close and dear. Then when the tears started to lessen, Bucky finally pulled himself away from her. Y/N wiped the excess tears on his cheeks but he caught her hand underneath his; he relished in the relief of her presence when he sighed to her touch.

Bucky's gaze wobbled in the pool of tears in his eyes but he was still determined to speak his mind  "I'm so sorry, doll." He apologized, "I couldn't stop them. Even with this damned serum in me, I still couldn't protect you; both of you." If his defeated voice didn't convey his truth, then the tremble of his touch should be enough.

And Y/N's heart simply shattered for him; what did he meant by that? He did save her though. The winter soldier or Bucky. It didn't matter who but she was here now because of him. She was safe; they both were, "But you saved me, did you not?"

"But, I didn't. The sol--" Before Bucky could even finish his sentence, Y/N quickly cuts in, "The soldat is always going to be a part of you, Bucky. And if he saved me, that means you saved me too." She reassured him.

Seeing the hesitation in his eyes, she continued to persuade him, "And if I could speak for our child, which I absolutely can because I'm his mother, then he would say that he is proud that his strong daddy managed to beat the absolute shit out of those bad guys."

Bucky blurted out a hearty laugh, "I don't think it's good to teach our baby to curse when he is still in your womb, mama." His laugh gradually reduced to a chuckle when he wiped the remaining tears from his eyes.

Y/N simply shrugged to his suggestion, "It's not like he wouldn remember this anyway." She smirked playfully.

Another chuckle managed to slip through Bucky's lips before he lowered his face to her tummy, "And you? How's your play date with Winter, hmm sweet bean?" He mumbled as his lips planted on her skin.

Besides the heartbeat of his child, he could also hear the tiny twitching of the baby's limbs moving ever-so-slightly, "Yeah, I bet he spoiled you with lots of kisses and cuddles, huh? Like he did your mommy?" He continued to coo against her belly, unaware of the shock on his wife's face.

"Winter?" A small smile cracked from the corner of her lips. Yes, she was shocked but that doesn't mean she wasn't pleasantly surprised by it.

Bucky didn't even bother to look up at Y/N's face as he was busy blowing raspberries on her stomach, "If he's going to keep popping up in our lives then we might as well call him something else other than 'soldat', don't you think?" He simply said, marking one last kiss on the small growing bulge on her belly, before working his way back up to her face.

Y/N's heart swelled to his gesture and when he laid his head next to hers, she carefully took him by his cheeks, pulling him in for a gentle kiss, "I think he'd love that, Bucky." She whispered against his lips, feeling his smile in return.

Bucky nudges forward to catch her lips again; kissing her slow and sweet as if his whole world has been waiting for this moment. And when the kiss naturally broke, he tempted her with something he knew she couldn't resist, "Now, how about we grab you both something to bite, hmm?"

End.

Read my other works here: Masterlist

A/N: The use of the title in the fic is suprisingly wholesome despite the insinuation of it, don't you think? Lol. Btw, thank you so much for stopping by and read my work. Leave your thoughts behind for me, I'd love to hear from you!

[sweet-s0rr0w]

Vintage Drarry Fics

Thought I'd put together a list of some of the old Drarry 'classics' of my teenage years, for anyone interested. All posted between 2001-2006, compiled using my (bad) memory, a lot of googling, fanlore.org and numerous different LJ rec accounts (including the incredible @capiturecs). I checked as best I could, but if anyone knows of any fics that their author doesn't want to be shared, please let me know and I will of course remove.

Please also note that these fics are of their era, when attitudes may have been different, and they may not all be grammatically perfect. I haven't reread all, as my own tastes have changed, but most importantly do note that they may not be tagged - don't blame me when, for example, Harry dies tragically on a rooftop at sunrise...

Hogwarts Era (mostly 5th-7th year)

A Thousand Beautiful Things by Duinn Fionn/geoviki (M, 105k)

Draco Malfoy struggles with changed fortunes, shifted alliances, an ugly war, and an unusual spell, with the help of a concerned professor, an insightful house-elf, and an unexpected Gryffindor friend.

All Bets Are Off by Allegra (R, 53k)

I am SICK of Good-little-innocent!Harry...Enter Playboy!Harry and his Overinflated Ego, a challenge, a bet, a couple of Really Cunning Plans - and there you have it, "Forty days and forty nights", Hogwarts style. Mayhem ensues! 

Angels and Devils by beren (E, 52k)

Harry defeated Voldemort and his act of heroism is famous throughout the wizarding world. He's trying to finish his final year at Hogwarts in peace, but, thanks to the method he chose to destroy The Dark Lord, something peculiar is happening to him, something he never would have expected. It's all rather embarrassing and making his life very complicated.

Artful Facade by Sky Sorceress (T, 66k)

Sometimes you fly too close to the sun and lose your wings. With sixth year approaching, the danger Harry seeks can be found only in the form of Draco Malfoy. What follows is a twist in the line between hatred, love, and need.

Beautiful World by Cinnamon/Lissadiane (M, 70k)

Harry finds out he's going to die on his 16th birthday. He embarks on a journey of self-destructive behaviour and drags Draco along for the ride. 

Beneath You by Cinnamon/Lissadiane (M, 113k)

Draco had no idea that the repercussions of stealing Potter's journal and shoving it down the back of his trousers would be so extreme.

Bond by AnnaFugazzi (M, 173k)

It seems 95% of H/D writers feel compelled to write a "Harry And Draco Are Forced To Be Together By Something Beyond Their Control And Then Unlikely Stuff Happens That Leads To Twoo Wuv" story. Count me among the 95% ;)

Checkmate by Naadi Moonfeather (T, 245k)

Draco has the perfect plan to get Harry Potter and challenges him to a game of Dare Chess. But is it love, or betrayal, he has in mind?

The Cicatrix Cycle by Ivy Blossom (NC-17, long!)

Three parts: Origins, Haven, Belong

Draco In Darkness by Plumeria (T, 41k)

Following an accident in his seventh year, Draco loses his eyesight. After Harry elbows his way into Draco's dark world, both boys find themselves in a strange new friendship, and they each learn new ways to see each other … and themselves.

Eclipse by PhoenixSong/Mijan (T, 287k)

"You're dead, Potter... I'm going to make you pay..." Draco swore his revenge on Harry for Lucius's imprisonment, and Harry all but laughed at him. But Draco is planning more than schoolyard pranks this time. The old rivalry turns deadly when Draco abducts Harry for Voldemort. It's the perfect plan, guaranteeing revenge, power, and prestige, all in one blow. But, when Draco's world turns upside down, the fight to save himself and Harry begins, and the battle will take them both through hell and back. If they come back. 

Friend Like Me by Lady Vader (M, 11k)

Draco's rendition of the love story that never was.

How Harry Potter Got His Groove Back by Durendal/Eleveninches (R, 12k)

Snape tries to hang himself, Draco enters an alternate reality, and Harry Gets a Clue. Humor, SLASH, naughty language, and other Evil Things. Harry/Draco, Snape/James/Lucius.

Irresistible Poison by Rhysenn (PG-13, 124k)

Under the influence of a love potion, Draco learns that poison doesn't always bring death -- there are other ways to suffer and live. Chemical emotion runs feverish as Harry and Draco discover the intoxication of love.

Lettered by pir8fancier (M, 7.8k)

Harry has a secret penpal, whose identity is as plain as the nose on his face. Except he's not wearing his glasses.

Love Under Will by Aja (R, 116k)

In their 5th year, Harry and Draco choose to be with one another; but the story--and the battle-- is just beginning...

playing the game, living the lie by Abaddon (R, 159k)

Set in Sixth Year, both the wizarding and Muggle worlds are threatened as Voldemort plans a final revenge. Past, present and future collide as all must consider where their loyalties lie; who they are, and who they want to be. Amidst it all, Harry and Draco begin a dangerous journey of understanding. Is it possible to leave everything you thought you were behind?

Resolution by Frances Potter (R, 322k)

When you've spent six years fighting evil, all you really want is a quiet time. But when your name is Harry Potter the chances of that are very slim. A series of vignettes chronicling Harry's final six months at Hogwarts. Exams, friends, lovers, Quidditch, the war and Draco all conspire to make the year end seem a very long way away.

Seamus is Seamus and You are Yourself by Ari Munami (PG-13, 31k)

Harry goes through some er... changes in his Sixth Year and everyone, including Draco Malfoy, sits up and takes notice.

Snakes and Lions by GatewayGirl (M, 139k)

When Ron and Hermione get together, they notice only each other. A nightmare prompts Harry to return alone to the empty Chamber of Secrets, and leads to a new look at an old enemy. Harry enjoys the company, but with Bellatrix Lestrange actively hunting him, how far can he trust a Death Eater's son?

Something Impossible by epicylical/Cassandra Claire (PG, 6.4k)

As punishment for an act of vandalism, Draco is forced to perform three tasks to win Harry's forgiveness - only they don't turn out to be exactly the kind of tasks he'd been expecting. With wet shirtless Draco, paint-covered Harry, and Proust-reading Goyle.

Transformation by amalin (E, 98k)

In Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, he must face the consequences of the attack on the Department of Mysteries and the effects of Voldemort's return. And in doing so, he finds that even your enemies can teach you valuable lessons—about the world, and about yourself.

Walking the Line by SilentAuror (E, 179k)

Sixth year is over and Draco Malfoy is on the run. The war is on and an unwanted assignment is forced upon him by the only people he trusts - and a one-time arch-enemy just may be out to kill him.

Post-Hogwarts

Adagio in G Minor by furiosity (NC-17, 18k)

Seven years after Hogwarts and the war, life continues in the wizarding world. Draco Malfoy is rich, bored, and slightly jaded. Harry Potter is famous, busy, and somewhat disillusioned. They've not seen each other since school ended. What would happen if they were to cross paths again? What if it involved music?

Big Dick, Come Quick [PDF] by Calanthe (NC-17, 204k)

Draco’s got a theory. About sex. And after much searching for the right candidate, it appears that only Harry Potter, his life long enemy, can help him test it out.

Draco's Escort Service by Cheryl Dyson/dysonrules (15, 12k)

Draco's job is to escort travelers through the dangerous, war-torn countryside. Harry Potter is forced to hire him, but his destination isn't quite what Draco expected.

Left My Heart by Emma Grant (E, 85k)

Auror Draco Malfoy has disappeared, and Harry Potter has been sent to San Francisco to find him. 

Malfoy, P.I. by Nancy (R, 60k)

"I'm Draco Malfoy, private investigator. I've seen a lot--I mean a lot, and I'm like sweet seventeen a lot. I thought I'd seen it all, until a pair of green eyes stepped into my office." A noir AU set in L.A. where passion and magic collide. Slashy and sexy.

Queen of Hearts by scoradh (E, 65k)

A spectre is haunting Harry - the responsibility of his destiny. It looms over his future and, more importantly, over the future of his friends. Harry is determined to exorcise this spectre for the greater good, but on the way, he enters into a few unholy alliances.

Tissue of Silver by fearlessdiva (R, 76k)

A love story concerning possessed furniture, black silk pyjamas, courtroom drama, premonitions of doom, assassination attempts, Death Eater yoga, absinthe, bare feet and a sensible werewolf.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by November Snowflake (M, 58k)

When the long-missing Draco Malfoy turns up at a Ministry field hospital with amnesia, bitter Auror Harry Potter must confront the shadows of their shared past to shed light on a potentially deadly mystery.

Transfigurations by Resonant (E, 71k)

Five years after Voldemort's defeat, Harry returns to England to help re-open Hogwarts.

[perfectsunlight]

𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞

𝗮𝗵𝗻 𝘆𝘂𝗷𝗶𝗻 𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗮𝘂! 𝘆/𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗳...

𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗲

𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 𝟯,𝟯𝟲𝟬

ahn yujin was out of your league in every way, shape, and form. you were the most quiet and antisocial person in the entire school, and if it wasn’t for the fact that you were partners for a paper, you wouldn’t have even met her. yujin was talented and gorgeous, a deadly combination that left others pining after her for god knows how long. unfortunately, you were one of those people. you knew better than to fall for the girl who was good at everything. 

from her vocal skills to her dancing, she was the epitome of what everyone wanted to be. usually her locker was surrounded with confession notes and the occasional flowers, and truth be told those flowers made you sneeze whenever you walked past them, so you couldn’t imagine how annoying it must be for her. the girl who was good at all things could not avoid the mob of people that followed her everywhere.

however, there was also one other thing ahn yujin was not good at: english papers.

Its the reason why you and yujin got paired up in the first place. yujin’s grades were anything but stellar, and yours were practically perfect. your teacher had asked you to help yujin and not just do the entire paper yourself, which made you internally groan because that had been your plan all along. unfortunately, that landed you into your present predicament with the brunette in front of you. 

“yujin, that’s not how you spell it.” you timidly pointed out on the google doc in front of her. you two were currently writing a paper on the impacts of shakespearean literature, but unfortunately ahn yujin kept misspelling the word “shakespeare.”

yujin’s brows furrowed, her eyes glancing over the sentences she wrote, scanning to look for her alleged mistake. “oh, sorry.” she apologized before hitting the backspace to fix her misspelling.

to say the past hour had been awkward would be an understatement. since the final draft of the paper was due in a week, you both agreed to start on it as soon as possible since your schedules may clash. 

little did yujin know that your schedule was entirely empty, and only consisted of studying and watching the newest netflix series available. you would never tell her that, though. 

your fingers twitched as you stared at the screen in front of you. the two of you had divided the work up by sections, you each taking a pretty even split. you were a good writer, and you knew that, but with the prettiest girl in the school sitting in front of you, it truly was difficult to focus.

ahn yujin was gorgeous, but seeing her this close only made you realize that there was not a word in the history of languages that could describe her. she was beautiful, and you had to keep sneaking small glances at her in case you stared for too long and she would notice. it was going to be very hard to finish this paper, especially when she just looked so cute when she was focused. 

her eyebrows twitched every few beats, and her lower lip was tucked in between her teeth out of nervous habit. sometimes she would even mumble to herself, and it took everything in you to not blush at the sight.

truth be told, you had known yujin since elementary school. you two were not friends or even close to it, but you saw her on the playground with her friends all the time. in all honesty, you could probably count on one hand how many times you two had ever even spoken to each other directly. you were always there, just in the shadows observing the girl you had had a crush on since the 2nd grade.

“hi.” 

you looked down from the swing to see yujin standing to the side of the swingset. “hi yujin.”

the girl in the ponytail pointed at the jacket that was tied to the other leg of the swing. “i need that,” she said as she shifted her weight in the grass. “but you’re swinging, and i don’t want to get hit by you.”

“oh,” your attention was drawn to the object of inquiry as you tried to slow down your swinging to hopefully hop off and grab it for her. except before your feet could hit the ground, yujin s voice stopped you.

“no, keep swinging. Its okay.”

your head tilted to the side as you looked at her, still swaying forwards and backwards. you were confused. she wanted her jacket back, so you should stop and get it like she wanted. why would she ask you to stop?

“but what about your jacket?” you asked sincerely, trying your best to not stop swinging like she asked. the other girl smiled brightly at you, not breaking eye contact as you swung back and forth in front of her. 

“it’s okay, i can wait for you.”

you were brought out of your thoughts as yujin shut her laptop and began packing her things. “thank you for your help today.” she said with a small smile, slipping her laptop into her backpack before swinging it over her shoulder. you sent a nod in her direction, mirroring a small smile in return. 

“no problem.” 

“i’ll call you friday, okay?” the brunette pushed her chair in as she stood, waving a goodbye as she walked out of the library. you rubbed your temples and laid your head on the table, doing your best to not shout in frustration.

the paper was already stressful, but you seemed to underestimate the impact of your crush on the girl who was out of your league. 

a few days passed, each consisting of the same school day routine that included your wandering gazes to the girl who sat in the front of the classroom in every subject you two shared. 

you were usually good at focusing, but ever since you two got paired together for your project, it ended up putting yujin in the forefront of your mind far more often than you were used to. you weren’t complaining, of course. 

yujin was pretty to look at, but she danced in your mind for hours on end. the mental picture was almost as good as the reality. it was just a happy crush, truthfully. the two of you never even had a conversation more than 2 minutes long before now. you didn’t understand why you still liked her.

especially since she was definitely out of your league, and there was no way she even knew more than your name. did she even know your full name? she should, considering how long you were in classes together for, but did she care to remember such a minute detail? 

you made your way through the hallway, following the familiar path to your locker. once you turned the corner, you saw your crush standing in front of your locker. confusion laced your features as you slowly approached her.

“yujin? what are you doing in front of my locker?”

the taller girl turned around at the sound of her name, her entire face lighting up at the sight of you. “hi y/n, i brought you cookies. consider it a ‘thank you’ for being the best partner.” she shoved a box of homemade cookies into your hands, the soft smile never leaving her face as she stood before you.

you looked between the cookies and then her a few times, mentally processing what was happening. “oh, you didn’t have to, really. thank you, though.” you mustered up a small half smile.

as you turned to open your locker, you noticed that yujin wasn’t turning to leave. you grabbed the binder you needed before turning your attention to the taller girl once more. “did you need something else?” you asked gently, not really knowing what to say.

yujin’s smile faltered a little, her gaze looking from you to your locker until finally landing back on you. “are you free tonight?” she asked.

you shook your head a little too fast, feeling slightly embarrassed of yourself. “i can’t work on the paper tonight, i need to study for the biology exam. sorry yujin.” you smiled softly. 

yujin’s shoulders sagged a little, but she quickly straightened her posture. “no worries. i’ll just see what i can do on my own then.” she shot you one last smile before she turned to leave. 

you shut your locker before shouting back one last comment at her. “don’t forget to spell shakespeare correctly.”

the taller girl turned around at the sound of your voice, a genuine smile gracing her features as she heard your comment. 

“it would be easier if you were there to remind me.”

as she disappeared into the sea of people, you couldn't help but shake your head at your heart racing in your chest. “she’s just being nice,” you muttered to yourself before turning on your heel and walking the opposite direction to your class.

the next day arrived, thursday, and you couldn’t help but feel as if someone’s eyes were on you the whole morning. you shifted in your seat, trying to focus on your notes and the teacher writing on the board. however, once you turned to glance at the glock, your eyes met yujin’s. 

wait, yujin? your brows furrowed automatically, earning a timid smile from the brunette across the room as she practically shrunk in her seat. she gave you a small wave before turning and facing the front of the room.

your heart fluttered in your chest for a moment, but it was short lived as you cursed yourself mentally. yujin was your project partner, nothing more. you two hadn’t even scratched the surface of “friends” in your book yet. 

shortly after, the bell rang, signifying the end of the class period. you got up to collect your things, but the moment you did, you saw yujin moving towards your desk from the corner of your eye. except, when she was a row of desks away from you, you saw her stop in front of the desk of someone else.

your eyes glanced over to the direction of the girl, trying your best to not feel your heart squeezing in your chest. 

yujin was talking to someone else, one of the other popular girls in her clique. you reprimanded yourself for even thinking she would possibly talk to you outside of your assignment. 

you spent the rest of the day avoiding her, but you could only do so much since tomorrow you two were supposed to facetime and finish another part of the paper. if only you could have been more talkative in elementary school and could have made more of an effort to be social. maybe you and yujin would be more than just english partners. 

it was all just wishful thinking, but even so, it was hard to not blame yourself for not making more of an effort to be more social.

once you got home, you spent the rest of the evening writing more of the paper. you knew you didn’t need to since yujin was doing her best to pull her load, but you still felt the need to do more just in case she wasn’t able to finish anything last minute.

your head hurt from staring at the screen for so long, but eventually you managed to finish another three paragraphs to the body of the paper. it was due tomorrow, after all. a hand ran through your hair before you checked your phone.

right as you were about to turn your attention back to the daunting assignment in front of you, a notification popped up at the top of your screen.

from: yujin :3

hey r u up??

sent: 11:01 pm

confused as to why yujin was even awake at this hour if she wasn’t working on the assignment, you shot a response back.

to: yujin :3

yeah?

sent: 11:01 pm

from: yujin :3

so about tomorrow

sent: 11:02 pm

you watched the small dots dance as she typed as a twinge of anxiety rose in you. she was going to cancel your last work session together since the assignment would be over tomorrow evening, wasn’t she?

deciding you didn’t want to make her feel bad about ditching, you hurriedly typed a reply before she could finish writing out hers.

to: yujin :3

hey dont even worry about it. i can cover what u don’t finish tonight or tomorrow afternoon. u don’t have to worry abt showing up tmr, its all good

sent: 11:02 pm

the tiny three dots disappeared after your message had been sent, and you breathed out a sigh of relief knowing that you had successfully lightened the load on the girl. taking yujin’s lack of a response as a good sign, you decided to work on the paper for another 30 minutes before calling it a night.

once your head hit the pillow eventually, you were able to rest well knowing that ahn yujin didn’t have to worry about misspelling “shakespeare” after tomorrow. 

since school got out early on friday, you were looking forward to being able to spend the rest of your afternoon alone at the library in peace and quiet. it meant you could easily finish the paper before sunset. except, once you turned the corner around one of the shelves, you did a double take.

yujin was sitting at your usual spot, a fresh bouquet of flowers sitting atop the table on her side. you assumed easily it was given to her by one of her many not so secret admirers. slowly, you made your way to the desk table and put your belongings down.

the taller girl immediately straightened up and smiled at your arrival, but her gaze faltered a bit once yours was one of just genuine confusion. “what are you doing here??” you asked genuinely as you took your seat across from her.

you didn’t see the expression on her face since you turned to pull your laptop out from your bag. however, the look on her face consisted of furrowed brows and a pout on her lips. it was quickly wiped off once you turned to face her fully.

“well, i came here to see you.”

your hands didn’t falter in your movements as you began typing away once again, “but i told you it was okay. i’m almost done with it anyway, you didn’t need to.”

yujin’s hands suddenly reached across the table and pushed the screen of your laptop forward gently, not shutting it completely on your hands. “i came here to see you, y/n.”

you tilted your head to the side, still not fully processing what was going on here. yujin came here to see you? for what?

“for what?” she mimicked, and it was only then that you realized you must have accidentally said the last part out loud. she only shook her head and grabbed the flowers next to her before extending them to you. 

“they’re pretty right? do you like them?” she asked. you only nodded and admired the bouquet of tiny daises and a few sunflowers. “i think they’re pretty, yes. whoever got you them has very good taste.”

yujin let out a chuckle before sending a witty reply. “i know, i bought them.”

“oh,” your heart squeezed in your chest. she bought flowers for someone? the brunette across the table took note of your visible confusion before finally doing something about it.

“i got the flowers for you, y/n.”

she placed them in your hands for you to take, a proud smile beaming on her face as she did so. “oh, you didn’t have to get me anything yujin. it was just a paper, really.”

the school’s most popular student cursed slightly under her breath before she stood up and leaned over you. even with you sitting, her height managed to make you tower slightly over you. 

“consider them an invitation, then.” she whispered, making intense eye contact with you. “go out on a date with me, y/n.” 

your jaw dropped instantly, and you almost looked around the library quickly to see if there were any hidden cameras or people recording secretly. was this some kind of joke?

“a joke?” yujin did her best to not look hurt, so she laughed it off. “why would you think this is a joke?”

you realized you accidentally thought out loud for the second time, mentally cursing yourself a thousand times as yujin’s head tilted to the side while she waited for your response. 

“you’re really asking me that?” you asked as she nodded in response. you sighed and broke your gaze away to stare at a particularly interesting spot on the wooden table.

“honestly, i have had a crush on you for a while, but you’re just,” you bit your lip trying to gather your thoughts. “as cheesy as it sounds, you’re just out of my league, yujin.” 

yujin’s jaw dropped this time, staring at you in disbelief even though you couldn’t see her face. “y/n,” she snickered as she used her hand to gently move your chin up to face her. “i felt the same way about you.”

“me?” you gawked at her in disbelief, truly not believing the words coming out of the other girl’s mouth. “yujin, you’re literally everyone’s dream girl. anyone would be lucky to even have a chance with you. ” 

yujin rolled her eyes playfully, “then i guess you will be the luckiest girl in the world, huh?” she smiled softly. “i’ve had a crush on you since i frist met you on the swingset in second grade. i still liked you during your middle school pokemon phase, and i still liked you when you became the smartest person in our grade.”

she grabbed your shoulders and shook you gently. “i’ve never accepted anyone else’s date invitations or dance invitations because i was waiting for you to make a move. but i knew you would never notice me, especially since we didn’t talk much.”

she continued speaking as she sat on the edge of the table behind her. “it was me who actually asked to get teamed up with you. once we got paired up, i knew i had to take a chance, but you just kept dodging me every time i tried to make a move. i brought you cookies, i tried to ask you out twice, including yesterday night, but you just didn’t seem interested.”

yujin paused before she cupped your face and committed your features to her own memory, burning into her mind every detail there was. you were too lost in your own thoughts, realizing that the girl who was out of your league for years was finally confessing to you. it didn’t feel real, and if anything you were waiting to pinch yourself to see if you were dreaming. maybe she wasn’t so out of your league after all?

finally, you responded to her confessions. “i feet the same way about you, yujin.”

she couldn’t fight the grin that formed on her lips, and the sight of her smile this close made your face heat up slightly. she took notice and placed a small kiss on your forehead. once she pulled away, the two of you stayed like that for a little while. just leaning into each other’s touches and admiring each other’s features.

“yujin,” you moved her slightly to re-open the google doc with the english paper in it. “we have to finish this.” the brunette rolled her eyes and shut your laptop. you shot her a knowing look, “i promise we can go out and do whatever you want after we turn this in.”

she reluctantly agreed, opting to pull out her own laptop to help finish things up as well. “if we both work on it, we can finish faster.” she reasoned with a smile. you couldn’t help but laugh at the other girl, and shook your head lightly.

“only if you spell shakespeare correctly.”  

“don’t make me leave you alone in this library.”

a/n: i wrote this for silan and kept it hostage from her so MWAH

[useless-catalanfacts]

Cover and a page from the 1922 edition of The Donkey's Dispute.

Did you know that, in the year 1417, a writer wrote a novel where he almost looses an argument to a donkey?

This is The Donkey's Dispute (Disputa de l'Ase in Catalan) written by the Mallorcan author called Anselm Turmeda or Abd-Allah at-Tarjuman in his mother tongue Catalan.

The novella tells the story of an animal society where, after the death of their king the Lion, they appoint another lion as the next king. The celebrations for the crowning of the new king wake up Anselm Turmeda, who was sleeping nearby. The animals recognise him as the Mallorcan author who had defended the foolish idea that humans are superior to animals, and they decide to settle the topic with a public debate between Anselm and a representative chosen by the animals.

The animals choose "the filthy donkey with the tail cut off", a humble animal that Anselm dismisses as easy to beat but which proves to have a much higher intellect than expected. Anselm explains an argument for human superiority, but the donkey answers refuting it. Anselm presents 19 arguments, and the donkey makes 18 of them unusable thanks to his smart answers, which he also used to introduce witty and funny stories proving that many religious men are more than happy to take part in the seven deadly sins. The only argument for human superiority that the donkey can't refute is the last one: when God came to Earth, he took the shape of a human man, mixing his divinity with humans and becoming another "son of Adam", thus brother to humans. Jesus Christ did not make himself a donkey.

Even though the novella ends with a religious reference, it also includes moments that criticize the Catholic religious institution. For this reason, the Spanish Inquisition banned the book in 1583. As a result of the Inquisition's persecution, the manuscript and all the copies of the original version in Catalan have been lost, except for one part where the donkey makes a prophecy, which was printed separately.

Luckily, the book had been translated into other languages, and the Inquisition did not reach other countries to destroy the translated copies that were there. We know the full text of the book because a translation into French printed in Lyon in 1544 and a translation into German printed in Montbéliard in 1606 have been preserved.

Cover and a page of the French translation from 1544. Google Books.

[hopemariposa]

Moments in BBC’s Muppets Sitcom (2015) That Make Me Question Reality

I am not kidding. this is a real TV show. and everything i mention genuinely happened in it. there is only 16 episodes, and i love every minute of it

Kermit breaking up with Miss Piggy and replacing her with a Walmart-brand, southern new pig

she looks like this, is positively ugly, i hate her, and is definitely not a girls girl

Miss Piggy having beef with Elizabeth Banks

Miss Piggy having beef with Christiana Applegate

Miss Piggy having beef with Reese Witherspoon

Kermit having beef with Josh Groban

Fozzie Bear becoming a kleptomaniac and stealing a glass dish (and breaking it) from Jay Leno’s house and attempting to steal a brass chicken and pen before getting caught

this dude (scooter) has a fling with CHELSEA HANDLER and they KISS

this was her job. there are images, there are full-length episodes of a show, where she KISSES A PUPPET.

the Muppet’s show being sponsored by adult diapers. and Big Pharma. and Big Oil.

Gonzo pretends to be Liam Hemsworth on an online dating app. and Liam Hemsworth steals his date.

Miss Piggy steals a penguin from Argentina and names it “Gloria Estefan”

Uncle Deadly immediately adopts it and becomes its “daddy” (his words not mine) and gives us this photo:

Fozzie canonically cries every time that he hears the song “True Colors”

Ru Paul makes an appearance in Santa boxers

Miss Piggy tries to become besties with a “recently dumped dental hygienist” and fails

Yolanda (this rat) organizing and rigging a secret santa game so that she can make sure everyone has her name (queen behavior tbh)

two rats and a prawn kidnap a human employee and lock him in the writers room

Yolanda also entertains the advances of an ugly rat is named Rizzo

Rizzo is named Rizzo because he is a Rizzlord and gets many chicks throughout the shows’ run. look at him:

Kermit flips a coin to…. determine if he should get back with Miss Piggy.

Kermit openly admits that he eats pig. (he talks about eating barbecue)

Kermit also openly admits that his type is pigs

Kermit exclaiming “gross” after Piggy trauma dumps about her family being slaughtered on her farm if they got injured

Uncle Deadly directing a play of “Clueless” and playing Dionne

“Cool. Nothing fixes a broken home like a chair”

the internet and a parent’s union shame Mrs. Piggy because he tail accidentally pops out of her dress on Zootopia’s red carpet

Miss Piggy giving a child a “do-it yourself waxing kit”

“Cows were lab experiments by the government! That’s why there were no cows before 1972!”

Pepe the prawn making doing an impression of Barack Obama:

this show is a fever dream.

i pray to God Almighty every day that they make a reboot with this magnitude of lack of self-awareness

I leave you with these goofy photos I found on google

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

FINALLY GOT A DRAGON HUZZAH.

Oh there you are Blackwall where were you hiding.

HFHH IS THE BOOZE DEADLY

Jshshhssb

AWw Elkae you're very hammered darling.

I think Cullen needs a year of bleach 🤣.

Awwww

LMFAO

That starts out so sweet, then fckin HILARIOUS then ADORABLE.

I need his writer to get a raise KJDJDJDDH THE NOISE I MADE

I dunno why I expected it to be smaller than that.

Something about this chateau is so unnerving..

"This place makes my skin crawl" Valid Cassandra Valid.

Terribly sorry Cassandra but I'm way more interested in the Dalish alliance than the chantry. They're getting the histories from the Emerald Knights.

And now the man joins us alWAHOO

The Red Templars that carry shields the size of their entire bodies can suck! My! 🍆

Side questing side questing side questing.

The amount of Googling I end up doing is astonishing. My brain so huge (not)

MDMSMS LMFAO COLE-

[thebiscuiteternal]

For years, chefs on YouTube and TikTok have staged cook-offs between "real" and AI recipes — where the "real" chefs often prevail. In 2022, Tasty compared a chocolate cake recipe generated by GPT-3 with one developed by a professional food writer. While the AI recipe baked up fine, the food writer’s recipe won in a blind taste test. The tasters preferred the food writer’s cake because it had a more nuanced, not-too-sweet flavor profile and a denser, moister crumb compared to the AI cake, which was sweeter and drier. AI recipes can be dangerous too. Last year, Forbes reported that one AI recipe generator produced a recipe for "aromatic water mix" when a Twitter user prompted it to make a recipe with water, bleach and ammonia. The recipe actually produced deadly chlorine gas. With AI-generated recipes, casual cooks may risk a lousy meal or a life-threatening situation. For food bloggers and recipe developers, this technology can threaten their livelihood.

[theserpentsadvocate]

So I’ve been doing a lot of research (or, more accurately, I’ve been doing cursory research fairly often) for the seventy-million Veronica Mars fanfics I’m currently writing, and I’ve run into a… difficulty. The fic that actually prompted this post wasn’t even related to the Thumper thing even peripherally, like it doesn’t even happen in it, but what can you do.

Here’s the thing: under California law, assault is the attempt to hurt or cause harm to someone by an individual with the capacity to actually cause that harm (e.g. throwing a rock at someone and missing, trying to punch someone who dodges). Actually harming someone is battery (e.g. you knock someone out and hide their drug money inside their motorcycle).

Now we, the audience, know that whatever someone might feel morally*, Weevil isn’t legally guilty of murder – he committed battery, and that’s probably all Lamb can prove, because he has witnesses to that part. But he has witnesses. He should have Weevil over a barrel on the battery charge at least.

But here’s the sticking point (or one of them): Veronica says, canonically, that Weevil ‘pled down to assault’ (and he seems to agree with her). So… why did he end up doing time for a lesser charge?

Answer One: The writers messed up.

Okay, so this is a very unsatisfying answer, and I’m rolling my eyes at myself about it. But still: it’s very common for the general public to gloss ‘assault and battery’ as one thing, or to use ‘assault’ to refer to battery charges, doubly so since, in a non-legal sense, the word ‘assault’ does include (legal) battery. Probably whoever wrote that line assumed that they knew what ‘assault’ was and just didn’t double-check.

(And they also didn’t bother to brush up on the difference between a felony and a misdemeanour and whether you can be on parole for a misdemeanour (answer: no), but I’ll get to that.)

But that doesn’t help square everything up with canon (unless you’re the kind of person who can say stuff like ‘that line doesn’t make sense so I’m ignoring it’, which I… am not, generally speaking), so more productively –

Answer Two: Veronica messed up

Veronica’s attitude toward Weevil isn’t always great in season three, trending towards dismissive on several occasions, and she is, technically, a member of the general public, so maybe she just said assault and meant battery, and he did go to prison for battery and not assault. This would track with him still being on parole – well, at all, but notably about halfway through season three, when Veronica wants to meet with the PCHers – and mentioning his parole officer multiple times. (Simple assault is a misdemeanour and has a maximum sentence of six months; parole, unless there is a glaring hole in my Googling, is only for felonies. Nothing he does to Thumper, as far as I can tell, would qualify as felony assault – he doesn’t use caustic chemicals or a deadly weapon, and he definitely doesn’t throw anything at a moving vehicle.)

Misdemeanour battery, on the other hand, appears to have a maximum sentence of a year, and a battery charge would leave the possibility of a felony open: aggravated battery, or battery causing serious bodily harm, is a ‘wobbler’, which means it can be filed as a misdemeanour or a felony, depending on the circumstances, and ‘serious bodily harm’ includes loss of consciousness. (This would also mean he very well could be a convicted felon, which of course has implications for the rest of his life beyond just having a record. I don’t actually want this for him, obviously, but if you want the felony for fic reasons, or to explain the repeated parole references, that versatility is there.)

The only problem is, Veronica is not a very likely person to make this particular mistake. Her dad spent most of her life in law enforcement and she’s very well-acquainted with most law enforcement (and much legal) procedure, she regularly interacts with the sheriff’s department, and she commits enough illegal and dubiously legal acts herself that it’s in her best interest to be familiar with these kinds of distinctions. (Although she’s still very much protected by being a middle-class white woman – she can do things like tasing obnoxious frat bros in The Rapes of Graff without worrying overmuch that she’ll be arrested on misdemeanour battery charges, even though it would absolutely qualify.)  Also, she clearly made the effort to look into how his case played out, since she’s the one who brings all this up, and she appears to have tracked him down at the car wash deliberately, so it would be kind of bizarre if she then got the offence wrong. This one is convenient, but in the end it’s a hard sell and I don’t think I buy it.

Answer Three: Weevil didn’t plead down from murder to assault, he pled down from battery to assault.

Lamb’s case for murder probably isn’t all that great. It makes for terrific oomph when you are deliberately arresting someone two minutes before he’s supposed to graduate, like an absolute monster, but what does he have, really? Two kids who saw Weevil knock Thumper out with… a cloth? Or something? and take a bag of… something. (And leave.)

So this proves battery, it strongly implies robbery, and given Thumper showing up under the ruins of Shark Stadium it certainly suggests murder, but that’s not going to stand up in court. Assuming the autopsy can conclusively determine which ones are from the stadium collapse and which aren’t (admittedly a big if), Thumper’s likely to have injuries from the beating the Fitzpatricks gave him that Weevil is (per the prosecution’s own witnesses) not responsible for and which were incurred after his attack on Thumper. The kids also saw him leave Thumper’s unconscious body and walk away with the bag of money, so – dead to rights on battery, but iffy on murder. The other PCHers can testify that he had motive to kill Thumper, but they might well not be willing to, for a whole host of reasons. Weevil is absolutely smart enough to establish himself an alibi for the entirety of the time after his attack on Thumper, and that would make Lamb’s case very difficult, as does that fact that Weevil literally didn’t kill Thumper, and so there’s very little forensic evidence to be found that would be damaging to him.

(Honestly, even if the charge was murder, and he pled down to assault or to battery, the fact that they offered him that also suggests the case was flimsy. Rich, white, even-more-innocent-of-the-actual-murder Logan only got offered manslaughter in the plea deal for Felix’s murder.)

So if this is it? That is a ton of reasonable doubt. And that’s before Cliff gets up there and points out that Eduardo Orozco was a known gang member and drug dealer and had all kinds of opportunities to make the kind of enemies who might have chained him up in that stadium (which is not only true but also… basically what did actually happen). In fact, typing this all up, I’m kind of pissed Weevil did any time at all.

Add to that the fact that both eyewitnesses are kids, who are notoriously unreliable on the stand… Yeah, I can easily see the DA deciding a murder charge won’t stick. But they have him on battery! …Wiiiith most of the proof being those notoriously unreliable child witnesses. So maybe they drop the murder charges, get him on battery, and then offer him a deal. On their side, they don’t have to worry about those kids holding up in court; on his side, well, if they threatened to file the aggravated battery charge as a felony, he’s looking at the difference between a year at most in prison and a possible four-year term with all the attendant miseries of being a convicted felon for the rest of his life. And he definitely can’t afford a better lawyer than whoever’s available from the public defender’s office. So it’s reasonable to decide that going to court is too much of a gamble, and just take the deal. This also explains how he’s out so quickly, since it cannot be more than three months since he was arrested when season three starts – but if he pled right away and got a light sentence (since it’s his first adult conviction), that might make sense.

The main problem with this one, even though I really like it, is that, well, there are the repeated references to him being on parole. Weevil himself could just be glossing probation as parole, I suppose – ‘don’t tell my parole officer’ makes a better joke than ‘don’t tell my probation officer’ – but Veronica also says he’s on parole in President Evil, which is an unlikely mistake for her to make if he’s not on parole, for all the reasons outlined in Answer Two, especially in what is literally a presentation for her criminology class. (Of course, in that same presentation she refers to him ‘assaulting’ Thumper, so who knows.) Most damning is the entire B-plot of Wichita Linebacker, which makes it clear he is indeed on parole, since if he doesn’t get another job he’ll go back to prison.

(And I suppose ‘pled down to assault’ is kind of a weird way for Veronica to phrase it in this case – but not utterly bizarre, and she’d be unlikely to spell it all out like that, since she doesn’t know she’s on TV and that line is supposed to be letting the audience know why he’s not in prison.)

Answer Four: Veronica was just guessing

I’ve always read the scene in Wichita Linebacker as her finding him on purpose, especially since she doesn’t actually stick around to get her car washed, which is why I also tend to assume that she’s either recently looked up his case or been following it from the beginning and would know what the charge is. (She doesn’t appear to be surprised to see him, either.) I also just… like to think that she’d care enough to follow up on him.

But it’s also possible that she really is just at the carwash for carwash-related reasons, and she’s just… guessing about the reasons he’s out already. In this case, she might have said assault, and he acknowledges this as correct even though the actual charge was battery, because he figures it’s close enough, and she’s got the general idea, anyway.

This covers more bases than anything else, although it still doesn’t explain why she implies he’s on parole for an assault charge during the criminology presentation, at which point she would definitely have done the background to know it was battery and not assault, but mostly I don’t love it for character reasons.

Anyway. If anyone wants to hit their heads repeatedly into this particular wall with me, I would love to hear your thoughts.

*and I’m inclined, personally, to say that the moral responsibility for Thumper’s death is pretty much on the Fitzpatricks, and it’s not like he didn’t know who he was getting into business with

[kanawolf]

fic writer’s ask meme

google docs, microsoft word, or other?

alternate universes, canon divergence, or in-canon?

past tense or present tense?

a detail you’re really proud of putting in one of your fics

laptop, notebook, tablet, or computer?

fic writer meme!

8. google docs, microsoft word, or other?

I use both google docs and scrivener! I tend to use google docs more often than not, but I started using scrivener with my Demon Slayer fic and have started using it a lot more. Now I like to use google docs for getting my thoughts out for different fics (including the demon slayer ones) and then copy+paste into scrivener once I have access to my computer (since I only have it on my laptop).

10. alternate universes, canon divergence, or in-canon?

All of the above! I tend to focus on canon divergent and AU fics though as I almost always write with OCs and like to go for Everybody Lives / Nobody Dies or similar AUs for funsies and to see what other sorts of character growth and development can happen to a character that survives a deadly encounter. And then most of my AUs are sometimes just very self-indulgent and silly (like the modern AU for Demon Slayer that I'm currently working on).

13. past tense or present tense?

I'm actually really bad about mixing my tenses up sometimes, but I usually prefer and do my best to write in past tense! I find it easier most of the time.

18. a detail you’re really proud of putting in one of your fics

Ornamentation! I like to point out specifics in my OCs or how I headcanon specific characters to accessorize themselves as I think those little details can really show a lot about a character. For instance, Shiori, one of my Demon Slayer OCs, tends to wear a lot of hairpins. To those that don't know them, it's just an accessory, but to those who do know them, they're aware that the hairpins all contain wisteria poison in order to help them fend off demons.

21. laptop, notebook, tablet, or computer?

Laptop preferably (especially for scrivener), but I also use my phone (especially when my brain will not let me use the laptop) & now my tablet for writing when I'm at work / away from home. I do love handwriting though & have a habit of starting a lot of my fics within notebooks before moving them over to google docs / scrivener.

[suimetrait]

People you’d like to get to know better

I was tagged by one of my favourite mutuals @femrebelle , thank you so much for the tagging me !!

Last Song: Play too much, Kyle Dion ft. UMI

10/10 song definitely would recommend

Favourite colour: Navy blue has my heart along with black

Currently watching: Destined with you (kdrama) Sex education, and trying to get into the big bang theory after watching young sheldon

Last movie: scary movie 3

me and my cousins were doing a marathon and watched all of them, we didn’t finish it though since we all fell asleep.

Currently reading: my psychology textbook

trying to keep up since i always slack off.

Sweet/Spicy/Savoury: it all depends on what i’m eating lowkey

Last thing i googled: The movie about the woman who had writers block and she hired a nanny to watch her kid to help her focus on her book and the nanny ended up being a serial killer (deadly illusions on american netflix)

me and my friend was talking about movies that had the most brain fuck of a ending and that movie popped into my head i just didn’t know the name, go watch it 10/10 !!

Current Obsession: the song politics and violence by dominic fike (i found it on instagram when trying to find a sound to use to show off my outfit and loved it ever since) rings (never leave the house without wearing them)

Currently working on: not a damm thing, i push a lot of things to the side then do them whenever my brain remembers

࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

i’m tagging @theosconfessions @ubebutter @meoanii @sumiileii and whoever wants to do it, i just tagged people who show up in my feed a lot 😅

[ace-pervert]

Seven Sins, Seven Virtues.

Since im not a christian, but was raised one, this is just my interpretation of the seven deadly sins and the seven heavenly virtues, and groups that best exemplify them in modern society.

SIN: PRIDE. Boastfullness, arrogance, self rightiousness, concietedness.

Groups: "Religious people", so people who have made being part of a religion (and for the sake of arguement atheism is counted as a religion) their entire identity and can and will make every moment about them and their religion. Influencers. Politicians.

VIRTUE: HUMILITY. Not placing yourself above others even when doing so would benefit your status in a group.

Group: Friendly anons. I know this is a weak answer but consistent humility is hard the minute someone knows anything about you.

SIN: ENVY. Desiring what others have.

Groups: Radical feminists. Communists.

VIRTUE: KINDNESS. Generosity and helpfullness without needing something in return other than possibly some gratitude.

Groups: Positivity blogs, suicide hotlines, Selfhelp youtubers, non profit organisations like Archive of Our Own.

SIN: WRATH. Constant anger and outrage.

Groups: Discoursers.

VIRTUE: PATIENCE. To accept that things take time, and not be angered that things take time.

Groups: Farmers, good teachers.

SIN: SLOTH. Intelectual and/or physical laziness.

Groups: People who seek normality, or define themselves by normality. Normality is at its heart a myth, everyone has some trait that makes them an outsider on some level, and to deny that requires a level of intellectual dishonesty not possible without forgoing thought altogether.

VIRTUE: DILIGENCE. To enjoy intellectual and/or physical labor.

Groups: Fanfiction writers. Fanartists. Tailors. Craftmen. Scientists.

SIN: GREED. To be driven by the urge to posses as much as possible without end.

Group: Those in charge of Google and Disney. Real Estate Collectors.

VIRTUE: CHARITY. To give up possesions without needing something in return.

Groups: Reputable charities.

SIN: GLUTTONY. To be driven by the urge to consume or use as much as possible.

Group: Proffesional gamblers, Extreme Sporters. People that badger others for pictures or art. The "ideal" Disney fans.

VIRTUE: TEMPERANCE. To be able to abstain from things you desire to consume or use.

Groups: Alcoholics Anonymous.

SIN: LUST. To be driven by desire itself, with neccesarily a need to consume or posses.

Groups: Stalkers. People obsessed with someone else.

VIRTUE: CHASTITY. To be able to let go of desire, or to live a life where desire is not the driving force. (This virtue is very much tied to sex, so ive had to adjust it so its ligns up better with my view on lust)

Groups: none that I can think of.

[fairysluna]

get to know me!

thank you for the tags my lovelies @aemondsbabe @aemonds-holy-milk @bucknastysbabe it's been a while since I've done one of these.

NICKNAME — just Liv, i think.

SIGN — cancer 🦀

HEIGHT — 1.62cm / 5"2

LAST THING I GOOGLED — today's weather, how to go to a place I've never been before, and how much was 1.62cm in feet.💀

AMOUNT OF SLEEP — last night were 5hrs but it's usually between 6 to 7 hours.

DREAM JOB — a writer, or a high school teacher.

FAVORITE SONG — right now is 'Is It Over Now?' by Taylor Swift.

MOVIE/BOOK THAT SUMMARIZES ME — Prob The Edge of Seventeen, Nadine was the first character I could truly relate on.

FAVORITE INSTRUMENT — Piano and Violins, I lovE THEM.

AESTHETIC — Light Academia maybe?? most of my clothes is brown, white, black and light green lmao.

FAVORITE AUTHORS — Used to be Benjamin Alire Sáenz, but now it's Taylor Jenkins Reid.

RANDOM FUN FACT — I'm deadly afraid of bird due to a zoo trauma. Have you guys seen that bird that's call Shoebill? that's a fucking demon right there, the most ugly creature to ever exist, i hate it.

Tagging to whoever wants to do it!🤍

[rueitae]

Season 1, Episode 6, The opera in the outback caper

I find Player’s desire to do accents adorable and hilarious at the same time. A fun tidbit for his personality. ‘Cause he’s absolutely willing to do it again later. Bonus points that Carmen teases him for it. (At least I choose to interpret that as teasing)

Player: wow good sign or bad omen? (In an episode in which Carmen gets brainwashed)

Me: stares at camera

Seriously though, the foreshadowing of the dark red arc throughout the series is so well done. It’s so brazen. So much so you don’t see it coming. Crackle’s civilian-ization is, I believe, the first introduction of brainwashing tech. Upon rewatch it's so clear what they’ve done. I bet the writers were cackling to themselves the entire time for this one.

I, for one, am so happy they made Carmen the opera a thing for an episode. Thank you CS for not wasting this niche opportunity. And all the zingers that come with it.

Love how they suspended audience (and Carmen) disbelief for a while by not having Le Chevre show up right away, so Carmen thinks that Gray is running this job. Until she really gets a solid look at him in a different light. I just appreciate how the scene went down. Clever and fun writing to introduce us to the issue.

I also like that Player isn’t taking any crap. He never does. That’s what I like about his character. He’s the only one who can really tell Carmen “how about not” and she’ll think about it. (And 90% of the time she skips off anyway). Though the few times in the series she does take his advice on an emotional decision are very poignant and some of my favorites.

This fight scene above the opera??? The elegance, the silence so we focus on the opera music (as Bellum wants) the timing of the machine hitting the rafters. VERY nice.

VILE NOTE

Player stop hunching over in excitement, your back is gonna hurt by the time you’re 30.

I dunno I like that after all the times they say “VILE”, Player decides to not use the acronym to seemingly try and bring home a point to Carmen to be careful, they could be up to anything.

The glider is really silent wow. Gray doesn’t hear her until she lands. Well done Ivy.

Ultimately she’s heartbroken he doesn’t remember her, but also he’s not trying to kill her so there’s that. In this first season in these moments you can tell she misses the innocent life she had. And she supposedly hasn’t been civhting VILE for long, so that’s a nice character piece there that she’s still mourning a more innocent time that she can never go back to. She knows she can’t and won’t.

8pm. I find it so hilarious for that need to specify because I personally would be like “8…am?”

Me: googles all the deadly creatures and weather in Australia

Me, hides Google doc: it’s…totally not for fic research.

LOL I love the utterly confused civilians during dramatic moments. Sorry Miro

Lab coats! Everyone in a lab coat!!! Thank you CS.

OPERA IS FAR TOO DISTRACTING. Love her character. The backstory she gives to Zack and Ivy and their FACES is delightful

Ivy and Zack are not trained thieves. That’s what makes them so fun to watch while they’re trying to hold her back. Carmen is creative too, but she has fighting experience to fall back on. The sibs don’t.

I wonder if Carmen realizes what’s happening in the split second before she goes under.

Player has the BEST “sus” face. And also rewatching I realize that the writers did give Player a chance to snap Carmen out of it. It doesn’t work. And it wouldn’t have worked for dark red arc.

Carmen really stands there saying “launch the boomerang” for almost a minute and a half lol.

The DINGO alert.

There’s something in me that appreciates that especially in these early episodes it’s always the sibs vs El Topo and Le Chevre. They get to know each other. That’s why the diversion works.

Ivy almost going up with the rocket is a TOP angst trope for me. I still get so excited over it. Not even kidding this is the millionth time I’ve watched the episode and I’m salivating over the near miss.

MIRO he just sits in the car but I’m glad we see his relief.

Okay after the first episode (well second technically) where he’s worried this is the first big protective!Player moment. He really drills into Carmen all the reasons she shouldn’t meet up with Gray again. Like. Gets really serious. These are my FAVORITE moments. And this one in particular I like because Carmen takes his advice here, she changes her mind because of what he says but for an entirely different reason. For Gray’s protection.

Carmen’s a good person. VILE totally miscalculated everything about her.

I love Maelstrom’s office it’s so EXTRA with the fish tank lol. Very clever working the darkness of what Maelstrom is asking into a kids show, with the replacement of “hat” for “head”. Hello Paper Star see you next week.

[teeth-cable]

Hello its me the anon who questions Vivziepop's worldbuilding. I'm probably gonna send like two more asks to put all my thoughts on the worldbuilding in organized places.

Vivziepop states Lucifer is top dog because he's an angel in the Hellaverse which brings up a few questions.

1. Where the fuck did all the demons come from? Like the only non angel deadly prince in Abrahamic lore we know god created was Leviathan and like I said before god had to nerf it. Does hell just operate on video game logic where it spawns stuff in. Like someone on the subreddit dropped a google doc that revealed that the Deadly Princes created the hellborn which I'm questioning because creating life seems like a god only ability? Why would he allow beings who oppose him to create life. I can buy angels probably having that ability since they are like OP as shit but again 6 out of 7 princes are hellborn demons in this universe. Did god accidentally make them too?

2. What do the Hellborn demons even do if humans don't even end up in their rings. Do they just sit around waiting for judgement day? Like we see succubus go and seduce people but like why? Cartoon Universe seems to think its too spread STDs even though that seemed to be a throw away line and i doubt its canon because the implications from that are super super super fucked because people fucking die from that, there was an actual health crisis and people can get it genetically. Like why are the succubi seducing humans? They gain no benefits from that, unlike a lot of myths they aren't absorbing life essence. Does Asmodeus want to just fuck with people? Why?

3. What's the point of having manifestations of the 7 deadly sins if it means nothing?

I alway thought before Lucifer fell from Heaven, God created the imps and demons to punish sinners in Hell. Maybe here the purpose of the succubus is to test humans if they're loyal to God and if not, their punishment is going to Hell. The Deadly Princes creating Hellborns doesn't make sense, like why would they do that and how?

I guess the imps just keep Hell, a functional society. At this point it feels useless to add them since their main purpose in Hell is now gone and the writers didn't give them a new purpose to justify their existence. It could be an interesting idea if a succubus's new purpose is to trick humans into Hell but in the show they do it, just because. There is no reason why succubus should go on Earth especially if they can get caught easily by humans. Asmodeus wants to fuck people because he is the embodiment of Lust, at least the writer represent that properly.

The manifestations of the 7 deadly sins is a cool idea and you can make new merch of characters for fans. But lore-wise it's strange to have them here since they seem to do nothing and the Overlords are more influential and powerful (despite some of them only being sinners and Overloads are ranks below the Seven Deadly Sins)