#had a great time working with you cata :]

[milkypiggybeans]

My and @cata-strophes’s spreads for @hermitzine!

We were assigned to the letter X and wanted to theme our spreads around season 10 (aka season X)! I worked on the left half of the first spread, as well as the blueprint, the ministry, the postal service, and the cat cafe menu on the second spread :]

[magics-neptunes-things]

Feelings (5)

Hi guys!

New chapter for this Serie, I hope you'll like it too :) Don't be shy about telling what you think about it, or asking if you want to have something special in it. I had a request from here for this one, so I hope it will be ok like this :)

Please enjoy ♥

TW : Suggestive, sex talk (?)

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4

Saying goodbye to Alessia was hard, but you didn’t have the choice. You knew since the start of all this that it would happen, but that doesn’t mean it was making things easier.

You find your apartment like you left it, your friend Sofia came several times to ventilate it and take care of your olive tree. That you renamed Olivio, with all the imagination that is yours. The only thing that changed, is that there is no Alma laying on your couch like she was used to do when you were away. You always hided your keys under your doormat for her to come, but you asked Sofia to take it away for now. You still have things belonging to Alma in here though.

You send them to her by the post before going to your first training session. Your Spanish teammates look at you with friendly compassion when your arrived and you realize that you almost forgot that you lost a finale several days before. Alessia made you forget.

You find your habits really quickly, even if Laia Codina or Jenni are not part of the team anymore. But Ona being one to replace them, you’re pretty sure that Lucy isn’t too mad. You still have to talk to her about Alessia though, you knew that she went on holidays with Ona and didn’t want to bother her. And you teased her so much about Ona that you’re sure she won’t miss to tease you back for now.

Cata Coll is one of your closest friends here and it’s with her that you appear for the first time back on Fc Barcelona Feminin’s Instagram. The training was lighter the first days, but you soon go back to the real session.

“So. You and Less?” asks Lucy one afternoon where you are at her flat after the training.

“Yes?” you answer innocently.

You were playing against each other at Fifa on Playstation, Lucy’s actually crushing you with Manchester City. You’re still trying to figure how she can be good at everything.

“How did you get together?”

“What tell you that we are together?” you ask, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe because you were making out in the plane when I came back to ask if I can borrow your earphones?”

Sitting on the other couch while scrolling on her phone, Ona can’t help but snort. You don’t mind her being here while you’re talking about your love life. You like her and she’s your mate’s girlfriend. You better get along and for now it’s working great. You smile too, to be fair, even if you blush lightly.

“We didn’t put a label on it, so I don’t know if I can call her my girlfriend” you answer, frowning softly.

It was the truth, even if you both said that you won’t go for someone else. You really hope that no one will catch Alessia’s eyes at Arsenal or even London. She’s starting again in a new environment; she doesn’t know everyone for now. You trust her obviously, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t lose interest in you.

“We did that at first too” Lucy answers. “Long-distance was hard, but really worth it if you’re meant to be.”

You hum, missing the complicit smile between Ona and Lucy. You sigh when Lucy scores another goal just before the end of the game. With a disgusted air, you let the controller fall on the couch.

“I’ve never been in a long-distance relationship before. It’s strange, to be honest, not being able to take the girl you like on date or something.”

“It is” Lucy smiles, patting your knee softly. “If you need advice or only talking, you can come to me. Or Mariona, she’s dealing with it for longer that I was.”

You nod. You somehow forgot that Mariona is dating Alessia’s teammate. Maybe you can take planes together sometimes, you think with irony.

“And Alma?” Lucy asks.

“Never heard from her again. I send her the things she left in my apartment and that’s all.”

********

You took the habits to call Alessia every night. She’s usually cooking her diner and put her phone against one of her kitchen walls to be able to cook while talking to you. You can really look at her for hours doing it. You only regret not being able to stick against her while she cuts some vegetables.

“What do you like to eat?” Alessia asks you that night.

You were silently observing her, lost in your contemplation.

“Oh uh… It depends” you shrug. “I’m not really difficult, I mean I think?”

Alessia laughs softly.

“I cooked for Leah two days ago, it was entertaining” the blonde says.

You smirk, knowing exactly what it could have been. You never met anyone as picky as Leah when it comes from food. You can guess her choice when you go to restaurant with her, it’s always the simplest dish.

“Why do you ask anyway?” you ask Alessia.

She looks genuinely surprise by your question, stopping to cut her carrots to look at you better.

“Don’t you come next week to London?”

“Yes?”

“Well I want to cook for you, obviously. We chose to get delivered almost at every meal we share when we stayed at home, but I really want to cook for you.”

“Ok” you smile softy. “Only if you let me take you on a proper date.”

“Is that even a deal?” Alessia smiles at you.

You feel your heart beating faster and God, how did you survive when she smiled at you that way in front of you?

Several days later, you were leaving training in hurry. You have two hours to go to the airport after your session and you came with your suitcase to go for it straight after your shower.

“Why are you in such hurry?” Jana asks from her cubby.

“She’s going to her girlfrieeeend” Cata sings from her spot.

“Girlfriend?”

Keira’s voice came from the other side of the room, and you flinch. Right, you didn’t talk to Keira about your new relationship. For your defense, you were thinking that Leah would. You grimace to Cata, grabs your suitcase and go for the exit.

“Say Alessia I say hi” Lucy shouts before getting hit by Ona on her arm.

“Alessia?”

You giggle when you hear the surprise in Keira’s voice but don’t take the time to answer, too scared to miss your plane. You jump in the taxi waiting for you and went for the airport.

It’s only when your luggage are taking care by the company that you take your phone off of your pocket. You wanted at first to write to Alessia to let her know that you were on your way, but you have some messages from Keira too.

Keira 🥠 Alessia??? Like in Alessia Russo? You better answer me right now, Kid.

You Who’s Alessia Russo?

Keira 🥠 You little shit. Bring back some Scones.

During the two hours and twenty-one minutes of the trip, you slept. You went to bed late this week, not being able to hang up with Alessia, even if you knew that you would see her today.

You are alert when you arrive in London, by dint of traveling from this airport, you know it by heart. There is an hour of time difference with Spain, so you feel like you have only left Spain for an hour and a half. The sandwich you snacked while waiting for your suitcase will allow you to wait until you arrive at Alessia’s, who promised to cook for you tonight. You know that you have at least one hour to go to Alessia’s house, London traffic jam being awful.

You were taping on your phone for an Uber when a voice next to you make you jump out of your skin.

“Hi stranger!”

You jump, turning around only to be face with the mischievous face of your gi… Alessia. She was supposed to be at London, not at the airport. You might look stupid when you look at her with wide eyes and your mouth slightly open. It made Alessia giggles, and you feel your stomach make a jump at the sound.

“Lessi? What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I have a great visitor coming to mine this weekend, so I decided to come to take her home.”

“No, I mean…”

“I know what you mean” Alessia laughs before kissing your cheek. “I changed my media hours with Kyra to be here at the right time.”

“Oh.”

You blush and let Alessia takes your suitcase. You then follow her to the parking lot, slaloming between people. You want to take Alessia’s hand in yours, but you don’t want to make her uneasy. There are a lot of people here.

You are happy to be sitting on the passenger’s seat of her car, who is definitely more comfortable than your seat on the plane. You can’t stop to look at her and just because she’s just next to you right now, you softly stroke her cheek before taking her hand in yours.

“I missed you” you mumble when she looks at you.

She is driving and you should have taken the opportunity to kiss her before you left the parking, but you maybe will have plenty of time to do it at her home.

“I missed you too” Alessia smiles.

She asks about your trip; you ask her about her day and finally the journey for her house isn’t so long. Even if there are a lot of people on the road at this time of the day.

“Leah wants to meet you during your stay” Alessia said at one time during the trip. “I told her not today because you will be tired, but maybe tomorrow morning? She can come to have a brunch or something before the game?”

“It sounds nice” you smile, not mentioning that only seeing her is enough for you.

Alessia had a game tomorrow afternoon, but it let you all tonight, all day after the game and all the next day too. You will leave on Monday morning very early to be at training in the morning. And you are determined to enjoy it the most possible.

You are happy to find Alessia’s house too, looking around you, you notice that some things as changed since you came the last time. She added some decorations. Alessia showed you during one of your FaceTime, but it’s different like this. You just have the time to look at the picture she took in Australia during the World Cup, before you feel her arms around you.

“I didn’t have my hello kiss.”

You smile, putting your hand on her arms.

“That’s a shame. It needs to be fixed.”

“It does.”

You turn around in her arms, passing both of yours around her neck. You take the time to look at her properly, her eyes, her freckles, and her smile, before leaning in to kiss her. You can’t explain how much you missed that feeling. Alessia sighs against you and you get even closer to her, melting in her embrace.

“That’s better” Alessia smiles after the kiss.

She then kisses your nose, your forehead, both of your cheeks and finish on your lips again.

“Are you tired? Do you want to take a nap while I’m cooking?”

“Like I’m going to sleep instead of being with you.” you snort.

Alessia rolls her eyes but takes you by your hand anyway. She made you sit on a stool at the central island of her kitchen with a mug of tea. You listen to her, Alessia making almost all the conversation, but it’s always like this between you. You love to hear her talking, trying to remember every little thing she says to you.

Your eyes are going sometimes on her bum, you have to admit. But if she notices, she doesn’t say anything. You proposed to help her two times, but she refused, saying that you can help tomorrow. You will.

Her lasagna is amazing.

“It’s my Nona’s recipe” Alessia smiles when you compliment her.

You made the dishes for her, ignoring her protests, and end up cuddle with her on her couch in front of some film she chooses. But you don’t even try to look at it, you are way more interested about your girlfriend than Blake Lively fighting for her life. You try hard not to bother her too much, but you can’t stop yourself from kissing her cheek, her hair or playing with her fingers.

But Alessia doesn’t seem to mind, actually she has a small smile on her face every time you look at her.

“I missed your smell” Alessia mumbles after another kiss.

You smile, because you said yourself the same things a lot of time during the time you were at Barcelona. And you promised yourself that you will take one of her hoodies when you will leave.

You stroke the skin of her neck with your nose before kissing it several times. But then she softly bites your ear, and you feel your body being swept by electric currents. The sensations are hard to ignore.

They are so hard to ignore that you found yourself with your girlfriend, both naked, some hours later, laying in her bed. Alessia is laying on her back while you are on her belly. One of her hands is playing with your hair and you are trying hard not to fall asleep already.

“Can I ask you something?” Alessia whispers “But you have to promise not to mock me.”

“Of course you can Sweetheart. I won’t make fun of you, promise.”

You turn your head on her to have a better look at her and even if the light of her bedside lamp isn’t strong, you can see that she had blush. You watch her bite her lip and fight the want to bite at it, too. You need to stay focused; you are curious about what is in her mind.

“So… As you know, you are my first girl experiment” she begins waiting for you to hum before talking again. “Well to know how to do things right, I made some research and…”

“You made research?” you ask with a smile.

But Alessia frowns, slapping you softly on your arm.

“Babe, you promised!”

“I’m not making fun of you” you swear, still smiling. “I find it cute.”

Alessia groans and you giggle softly, moving a little on her to be able to kiss her cheek. She’s hot under your lips, attesting of your girlfriend’s blush. She smiles though and clear her throat nervously before talking again.

“So, like I was saying, I made some research and I saw that there is a lot of things to use when two women are, you know, having sex?”

“Yes?” you only say, not wanting to interrupt her again.

“It made me wonder if maybe you like to use them? And if what we’re making is annoying for you. And then I thought that maybe I should buy some of them, but I didn’t know which one you like, or you want?”

She stops talking, a little out of breath. She talked quickly though and that might explain that. She seems nervous so you take her hand in yours to try to sooth her a little bit.

“Ok, first, what kind of things did you see?”

Alessia blushes violently and you can’t help but smile again.

“Alessia Russo, did you watch porn?” you laugh.

“No!” she shouts, sitting up in the bed. “I went to website selling toys, I didn’t watch adult’s movies.”

You roll your eyes, asking yourself how a girl you just have sex with can be so shy about something like that. But that’s the innocent part of Alessia talking maybe. And you love it as much as you love every other part of her. You sat too when she sat up and you take support on her knees to lean on her and kiss her.

“Ok first of all, what we are doing is absolutely perfect to me. It’s special because it’s you and I love every second of it, every time even more.”

You are close to admit how much she affects you, but it’s not exactly admitting that you are in love with her for years. You want to reassure her anyway; you had your first time with someone before and you don’t want Alessia to feel insecure. Or worst, not enough.

It seems to work because she is smiling again, and you can’t resist to the want to kiss her again.

“But if you want to try some things together, we can do it too. Or if you miss something –“

“No” she cuts you, shaking her head. “I don’t miss anything I swear.”

She’s blushing again but you feel like she’s telling you the truth. When she talks again, she’s mumbling, looking at her fingers.

“It’s just that I never felt that way before and I want you to feel as good as I am.”

You could literally melt right now. You take a big breath, drawing her attention on you again.

“Lessi, you have no idea how good you make me feel. Really.”

She seems skeptical though, looking at you attentively. That girl will be the death of you.

“But I’m not experimented like the other girls you slept with” she points, frowning. “How can it be as good as you say?”

“I told you. Because it’s you.”

She looks at you for several seconds before smiling shyly, and you are smiling back. You are touched that she had this process and how much your well-being count for her. You sometimes struggle to realize that after all those years you are Alessia Russo’s… things. You really had to talk about it at some point, but the talk you’re having tonight is maybe enough for now.

“Do you want to buy some things though?” Alessia asks. “You didn’t answer about you having anything, but I don’t really want to use something you already… Well, you know.”

“I understand” you smile softly. “We’ll look together, ok?”

Laying down on the bed again, you take her in your arms this time, kissing her softly. She seems to be relaxed now and you let yourself go against Alessia’s mattress. You love sleeping here. Everything smells Alessia.

“By the way, please don’t tell Leah what we’ve done tonight. We’re not supposed to do something physically tiring the night before games.” Alessia smirks several minutes after, making you laugh.

********

You need a little bit of conviction to get up from the bed and your girlfriend embrace the day after. You are still a bit tired and it’s only the idea of Leah coming to find you both in bed because you are late that makes you get up.

“You are late” Leah grumble when you arrive with Alessia.

“Sorry, sleepyhead here had trouble getting up” Alessia smirks.

“I’m on the Spanish schedule, it’s not my fault” you yawn.

Leah don’t have time to grumble one more time, because the waitress came soon after to give you the menu to chose what to eat. You study it with seriousness, your stomach feeling a little bit empty.

“The usual Less?” the waitress asks to Alessia.

You frown, looking at your girlfriend who nod and give her menu back. Leah passes her command after her and you have to fight the strange feeling you have to ask what you want too. Leah seems to have forget about your delay when the waitress left, but you still have that mix of jealousy and discomfort. Alessia never hide what she does during her day, and she told you several time that she went to brunch or eat breakfast with some of her teammates, but you never imagined that there will be a pretty brunette who seems to know your girlfriend’s order by heart.

“I’m talking to you, Sleepy” Leah says, kicking you under the table.

“Wow, way to hurt your opponent?” you grumble while Leah rolls her eyes. “What was it again?”

“Keira. She asks me to remember to bring her Scones.”

“Oh” you smirk softly, remembering what happened in the locker room yesterday. “She told you that she knows about Alessia and I?”

You explain to Alessia yesterday what happened, and she’s smiling too. She didn’t look sad or hurt that you kind of forgot to talk about it to Keira.

“She told me she discovered because your teammates can’t keep their mouths shut” Leah smirk.

“It was Lucy to be fair.”

Leah rolls her eyes one more time while Alessia laughs, but your smile is quickly faded when the waitress is back. She once again turns in Alessia’s direction with a big smile at first, before giving Leah’s plate then yours. You don’t like the way she looks at your girlfriend or even how she smiles at her.

Your eyebrows are still frown when you look at your plate and suddenly the bacon in it doesn’t seems as yummy as it should. Being already concerned by your changing mood, Alessia discreetly take your hand in hers while Leah is concentrated in her plate.

“What’s up?” Alessia whispers.

“Nothing” you say, forcing a smile.

But that doesn’t work. Alessia frowns, looking deeply into your eyes.

“Communication, remember?”

You sigh softly. She’s right, you promised each other to always talk to the other is something is wrong. But you don’t want to do it here.

“Later, ok?”

Alessia nods, but she doesn’t let go of your hand and relax only when you start to eat. The food is delicious to be honest and you understand why Alessia keep coming here. You don’t know what you will say to her about your feelings, you feel bad at the idea of depriving her from this menu.

When you’re finish, you went right to the stadium. You follow Leah in the parking lot and then follow Alessia who introduces you to the different places and people who punctuate her training sessions. You meet almost all of her teammates too, even if you know some of them already. Like Laia Codina, who you know because she was at Barcelona and that you are happy to see again or Beth Mead with who you play for England.

You already know Lia or Jen because of Leah and you are kind of relax around the team. When they need to get training, Alessia goes with you to the friend and family section, holding your hand.

“So, what happened during the breakfast?” Alessia asks.

You sigh softly. You have forgotten that you were supposed to talk to your girlfriend about this. You look at her and she’s already looking at you, concern in her soft baby blue eyes.

“It’s nothing, it’s just… that girl from the Café? The waitress?” Alessia nods, so you continue. “She was looking at you like you are the most beautiful thing in the world and she’s right because you are, but it makes me realize that she can see you every morning if she wants to and I can’t. And that made me miss you, which is probably stupid because you were sitting right next to me, but…”

You shrug, not knowing how to end your sentence. But Alessia nods once again, seeming to understand what you were meaning. Which is already relieving at your eyes. She squeezes your hand softly before answering.

“It’s not stupid at all, I understand the feeling. I miss to have you next to me in the morning and falling asleep against you at night. I miss you almost every second of the day. But we chose to give us a chance and we knew what it would be. I’m sure it’s worth it.”

You feel your heart fluttered once again and you look around you to be sure that no one is near you, before taking her tight in your arms. She holds you as tight as you are doing, and it help you to feel better.

“I have nothing to worry about, right?” you whisper with your chin on her shoulder.

“Nothing.”

She backs her head to have a look at you and she’s smiling softly. You trust her, of course you do. She’s like the sweetest and the gentlest human being. And then she kisses you, not long but softly.

When Alessia left you in the family and friend section, you go to look for your seat, but you are soon spotted by Amanda, Leah’s mom. She waves at you and makes sign for you to come to her, which you do because no one can refuse anything to Leah’s mum.

“Hi darling!” she says happily when you are at her level. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Oh, uh…” you mumble while she hugs you.

“Leah told me why you’re here, but don’t worry your secret is safe with me.”

She smiles at you, taping your cheek in a motherly way before making you sit next to her. You recognize next to her Leah’s nan, who you salute too. Amanda looks at your shirt, raising an eyebrow.

“Not wearing an Arsenal jersey?”

“Alexia would probably kill me if I do something like this” you laugh. “Maybe she would make an exception for Alessia’s, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”

“Why that? Everyone seems to think that Less and you are good friends.”

Amanda seems to know what happened in the social media, with the video of you going to recomfort Alessia after the finale in Australia. Everyone said how much you are a good friend, choosing to make your friend’s feelings better rather than being focused on yours.

“I’ll think about it for the next time” you promise.

“Great. In the meantime, wear this.”

Without letting you the time to look at what it exactly was, Amanda put one Arsenal scarf on your shoulders. Leah’s face is print on it, and if you don’t see at least one twitt or one TikTok editing you with your friend, it would be a miracle.

[meazalykov]

good things come to those who wait

laura freigang x barca!reader (requested?)

summary: you'll finally be the happiest girl on the pitch, according to aitana

authors note: one of my mutuals on twitter checked out this page. they asked if I could do a part two to a fic I made months ago. here it is :)

warnings: small age gap

part one here

its been a month and you've managed to come to terms about what happened in that dressing room.

for a while, you walked into the dressing room always feeling a hint of embarrassment from being rejected by esmee. however, alexia reassured you many times that nobody finds you embarrassing, even esmee.

thank goodness you had football, since you were able to focus on that instead of the wanting to having a relationship like everyone else.

you step onto the pitch at the deutsche bank stadium, the unfamiliar pulse of adrenaline coursing through your veins for the champions league match.

the crowd's roar is a distant hum in your mind, drowned out by the singular focus you’ve forced yourself to adopt.

you're a starting defensive midfielder this game, outside from being a right-wing backup for lucy. as you look over to the left, you see esmee tying her cleats.

the rejection from esmee still stings, but you've pushed it aside, determined not to let it affect your performance. you knew this champions league match against frankfurt demands every ounce of your attention.

the first half is intense. you had to be sharp, alert, and relentless as the german team throws their best forwards towards you.

frankfurt's forwards are quick, and their midfield is formidable, but you’re not one to back down.

one of their forwards nearly took advantage of a goal opportunity, but you were able to side tackle the ball away before she took a shot.

you stood up, adjusting your shorts as cata makes a free kick from outside the box.

taking a moment to breath-- you realized that frankfurt is putting up a fight.

you’ve faced tougher challenges before, and today, you're determined to be the player your team needs.

but then there's her.

laura freigang. #10 for frankfurt. she's everywhere—pressing high, tracking back, and always looking to exploit any gaps in your defense.

you clash with her multiple times, and each time, she meets your challenge head-on. some of the blocks worked, others didn't.

what catches you off guard isn’t just her skill, experience, or her tenacity, but the way she looks at you. even with the ball in play, laura’s gaze lingers on you, curious and intense.

it’s unsettling and, you admit to yourself, a little intriguing.

the match remains tigh. it’s late in the first half when laura finally breaks through.

she finds a pocket of space just outside the box, and before you can close her down, she strikes. the ball sails past cata’s outstretched arms and into the net. 1-0.

at the start of the second half, barcelona doesn't falter. aitana orchestrates a quick response, threading a pass through to salma, who slots it home with clinical precision. 1-1.

later into the second, you shot the ball up to mariona who heads the ball into the net. 2-1.

the final whistle blows, and the crowd erupts. victory is yours in the group stage match-- but your thoughts keep drifting back to laura.

as you’re talking to mapi and ingrid, sharing a laugh over some play in the match, you see laura making her way towards you. her steps are confident, a slight smile playing on her lips.

luckily, mapi and ingrid stepped aside due to vicky calling for their attention.. so they didn't notice the older german girl coming.

"hey," she says, her face warm and voice slightly breathless from the match.

"i’m laura. that was a great game."

"yeah, it was. you gave the defenders a real challenge out there." you nod, still catching your breath.

"you didn’t make it easy for me either. i couldn’t stop watching you—uh, watching how you play, i mean." laura chuckles, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"sure, just my playing?" you raise an eyebrow, a smirk forming despite yourself.

she laughs, a sound that’s somehow light and genuine. "maybe not just that," she admits.

"but i really would like to get to know you better, if you’re interested?" she continues.

your eyes widened, surprisingly, there’s a spark of something new in your chest, something you haven’t felt in a while.

"yeah, i’d like that." you say. there wouldn't be any harm in getting to meet new people, right?

"cool. maybe i could get your number?" she asks, her tone casual, but there’s a hopeful look in her eyes.

after you nod your head, she pulls out her phone from her jogger pants.

you take her phone, typing in your number, and hand it back with a smile. "call me."

and she does. the calls start off short, just casual chats about football, life in germany versus spain, your mutual love for photography, and favorite music.

but soon, they grow longer, stretching late into the night. you find yourself looking forward to hearing her voice, to the easy way you can talk about anything or nothing at all.

two months fly by, and before you know it, it’s time for the second group stage match against frankfurt.

this time, when you see laura on the pitch, there’s no awkwardness.

after the match, you muster up the courage that’s been building for weeks. the game is in spain, meaning that you're both here with no distance creating a boundary.

“laura,” you begin, pulling her aside as the rest of your teammates head to the locker room. you don't want them to know about this, not at least you're positive that this will lead somewhere.

“would you want to go out to eat tomorrow before you go back to frankfurt? like…on a date?” you whisper. again, hoping that nobody really catches you saying that.

you half expect her to hesitate, but instead, she grins. "yes, i'd love to."

the next day, as you're preparing for the date. you realize that you're stuck. you've never been on a date before, at least one that led into something.

hookups were one thing, but building an actual bond to form into a relationship was another ballpark.

you run out your apartment and go next door to seek out mapi and ingrid for advice.

they're your neighbors, so you're comfortable with asking them for anything-- they've always reassured you that you could. so you're sitting on the couch with ingrid as mapi sits on their recliner.

"guys-- I have a date tonight." you swallow.

ingrid smiles, happy to hear that you're moving on. mapi is surprised, who were you going on a date with?

"that's so fun!" ingrid says.

"who are you going on a date with?" mapi asks, protectively.

you're 21 years old, but mapi looks after you like an older sister.

"it's with laura. laura freigang from frankfurt. we've been talking for the last two months and since she is here in barcelona, we figured that we could spend time together." you gave a cheeky smile.

ingrid smiles knowingly, looking over at the protective tattooed woman. “ohh laura! mapi I know laura-- she's a good one. i remember playing against her in the bundesliga a long time ago. she’s got a heart, and i think you two will be good together.”

“just be careful, y/n. i don’t want to see you get hurt again.” mapi, on the other hand, is a little more skeptical. she didn't forget about the rejection from esmee.

ingrid gives her a look, her eyebrows flared.

“okay, okay. have fun, but i’m still keeping an eye on her.” mapi lets up, not wanting her girlfriend to be upset.

your first date with laura is everything you hoped it would be. she’s charming, funny, and there’s an undeniable chemistry between you-- considering that she's 26 and you're 21.

you go on a few more dates whenever your schedules allow, each one better than the last. sometimes you'd fly out to germany and other times she would come to spain.

she captures your journeys on film which you love. sometimes she'd let you take her camera to capture a few pictures of herself. this is special-- laura never let other people touch her cameras.

by summertime, you both find a long-break in your schedules and decide to spend it in mallorca.

the sun is warm on your skin, the waves gentle as they lap at the shore. it’s there, with the golden sand beneath your feet and the clear blue sky above, that laura turns to you, her eyes filled with a mix of nervousness and hope.

“y/n…would you be my girlfriend?”

for a moment, the world stops. then, with a wide smile, you nod. “yes, laura. i’d love to.”

when you tell aitana back in barcelona, she grins, pulling you into a hug.

“i’m so happy for you, y/n. you deserve this. remember what I said-- you’re going to be the happiest girl on the pitch now.”

and as you step onto the field for your next match, your love with laura and the memory of her smile in your mind, your teammates were right all along.

my master list is here if you want to read more fics <3

[wosoluver]

La nueva g headcannons

Patri Guijarro x young physio!reader

→ The girls tease and try to embarrass Patri

Patri Guijarro Masterlist

She can't help...

──✩₊⁺⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧──

At the beginning they were quiet about it. But a month or so into your stay at barça, they were so over they way Patri was quietly simping over you. Not only her, but two or three players by now.

But differently from the others, she was extremely shy about it. Patri Guijarro wasn't that girl. She was loud, playful and cheeky. And that's what initially made them so interested in teasing her about it.

Hitting her with a ball, Ona was quick to add. "Ay chica, the way you're staring at her, she might dehydrate." she said in Català.

"Ouch! I was just seeing if she was getting by well."

You were outside along with the medical team and the trainers, talking about the players' overall performance and what adaptations would be made for the week in preparation for the next game.

You had your back to her, very concentrated at what was being said.

"Sure" added Clau.

Since spending the last couple of weeks working with the physio team, she had created a soft spot for you. She, along with only few of the girls, had gotten to chat with you a little more. In truth you were mostly quiet, you were shy and it took time for you to come out of your shell.

"I know, It's uncommon to have young and very good looking staff around." now teased Cata.

"And smart, and funny." she said under her breath.

"what?" asked Ale, trying to figure out what the younger girl said.

"Nothing."

Sometimes she would forget that not many had the chance to see you crack a joke, or over explain something you really cared about, like how muscle fibers work or that your ligaments held your bones together. Both which Patri had learned involuntarily after you dumped a 'biology for dummies' class onto her.

So it was hard to explain to others, why she felt so infatuated by you.

Pina was the only one she felt she could confine in. Which was great, only she would always forget how much of a little shit her best friend was.

"I can already see it 'Patricia Guijarro do you take Y/N Y/L/N as your wife to love and cherish and bla bla bla..." said Claudia joining in on the fun.

And soon they realized you were walking in their direction. When you were getting close, Alexia teased Patri.

"Don't forget to breathe!"

"Close your mouth, you're almost drooling!" said Cata next.

"Go get her, tiger." added Ona.

You tried to make up what was being said, that had made Patri go red so fast. But you had yet to learn more than 'bon dia' and 'moltes gràcies'.

"I definitely need to learn Català, if it means I can make you blush like that."

──✩₊⁺⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧──

It's short but don't worry guys! There's more coming. Again thank you to @s0ciety-cxv ily 🩷

[maxsimagination]

𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 - 𝗺.𝗹𝗲𝗼𝗻

summary: frenemies to lovers during el clasico

-> !! fingering, semi public sex !!

𖦹 masterlist

"𝗦𝗢, 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗫𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗗 about being in the starting lineup?"

alexia bumps my shoulder with her own, grinning down at me. i look down with a blush and shy smile, it was first time starting for barcelona since i had transferred here at the start of the season.

"ah, yes? just nervous about being chosen over others like mapi or irene."

alexia laughed, knowing full well about the in-club rivalry between me and maria. both of us being defenders, me being the newcomer, she didn't like it much when i was 'chosen' for things over her. of course it never got nasty or vicious to the point of bullying, but i would not label us as friends.

"there's a reason jona chose you. you're just as good a player as mapi. i'd even go as far to say you're better. don't tell mapi i said that."

she whispered the last part and i giggled at her words. ale had always been my biggest supporter when i moved, she knew me since the U17's spanish national team.

we had reached the locker room after training, walking in to join the rest of the girls in changing. my cubby was, of course, directly next to maria's but that didn't bother me much anymore.

i whipped off my training shirt, leaving me in my shorts and sports bra, before grabbing my bag. i could feel maria's eyes on me, daring to catch her gaze as she unabashedly looked at my abdominal muscles tensing.

i went to the showers to freshen up before heading home, our next game being at our home stadium against real madrid.

——

match day was here, it was t-2 hours until kickoff and the team was on the pitch doing pre match inspection.

we'd go back to the locker room afterwards, so jona could give his match day speech. i was as jittery as ever, being put in the starting eleven. alexia assured me i'd do great, attempting to calm my nerves.

less than an hour until kickoff now, and we were warming up on the pitch. the starting eleven and the subs were in separate groups, so me and ale were together and the others; mapi, were in a different area.

it felt like time was moving too fast because suddenly we were all lining up in the tunnel to walk out. my body worked like clockwork, a routine that was followed every time. the team photo took a split second and we all jogged off to get into position.

it was me, ona and marta defending , ale in her usual spot as a midfielder and cata in goal for a change.

i was semi worried about this game against real madrid, we had beaten them before, but not while i was at the club. once everyone was on the pitch and ready everything faded away and i was focused on the play.

——

halftime and it was 3-0 to barca.

i was over the moon at the results so far, it hadn't been too much work for me in terms of defending but i took all the corner kicks and the free kick that was awarded after ale was taken out by one of the defenders from madrid. that kick didn't go in directly but oshoala got a head to it to score a goal.

we were back out on the pitch in no time and i was buzzing to go again.

this time there was another penalty kick and i lined up for it. three steps back, i got ready and ran forward, booting the ball towards the net. miraculously it curved perfectly and went directly into the top left corner of the goal. i raised my arms in celebration and all my teammates on the pitch ran towards me to hug.

it was a successful 70 minutes that i played, when jona subbed me off to give me a rest. mapi was replacing me and i jogged towards the sideline where she was standing.

she put her hands up for the traditional high five and hug, which i didn't think twice about. she grasped my hips tightly before running onto the pitch and i sat down on the subs bench with the thought of her hands touching me on mind.

——

barcelona won, 5-0 with alexia finishing off the score sheet. i jumped on her back when she came to congratulate me, and we walked around signing some shirts with me being piggy-backed by her.

the team all made their way into the locker room where we all celebrated, i had taken my shirt off to give to a fan, yet again being left in sports bra and shorts.

it was an absolute party in the locker room, jona wasn't there just the girls on the team. ale was jumping around next to me, this was my first big win against a big team so she was celebrating for me and with me.

i couldn't see mapi in the room but left it to the back of my mind as we calmed down the celebrations. most of the team went to get showered but i slipped out to go to the toilet before i came back. it was just down the hall, and i didn't take long, 5 minutes later and i was walking back down to the main change room.

but before i could reach it i was grabbed by the arm and dragged into a nearby physio room.

"hey, what the-" my mouth was covered and i realised who was holding me. maria leon.

"you have no clue what you do to me, do you?"

i knew it was a rhetorical question but i was petty and shook my head anyway, her hand was still covering my mouth.

"walking around in nothing but your bra and shorts, the things i would do to you.." she trailed off and left the rest to my imagination. her eyes were alight with desire and her eyes raked over my entire body. i couldn't deny the a feeling bubbling in the pit of my stomach, it sent shockwaves straight to my core.

maria had removed her hand from my mouth, one hand placed on the door behind me to hold her up and the other resting on my right hipbone.

"so show me."

i had no idea where the confidence came from, but i blurted the words out anyway. her head cocked to the side, looking me up and down subtly before leaning in close, barely two inches away from my own lips.

"can i kiss you?"

her voice was low, husky, and it was hot. i nodded quickly and maria wasted no time in crashing our lips together. it was unlike anything i'd felt ever, maria took the lead and guided my head to tilt back so she had better access. my mouth instinctively opened and she slipped her tongue through.

her hands were now on my body, one placed on the nape of my neck and the other travelling up and down my hip, occasionally slipping under the edge of my sports bra. my hands had fallen to her waist, just resting there.

maria broke the kiss, a grin plastered on her face. i'm sure i looked as disheveled as ever, i certainly felt it as she guided me over to the physio bed that was in the room.

"can i..?"

"please."

her hands had dropped to my shorts, requesting permission to remove them. she worked quickly as soon as the word left my lips, thumbs hooked in the waistband and tugged down. i lifted my hips from where the rested on the physio table to help the process.

maria placed her hand on my chest and lightly pushed me back to lie on the table. from my position, i noticed she hadn't removed a single piece of clothing so i tugged on her shirt.

she quickly lifted it up and over her head, tossing it somewhere in the room without a second thought. her hands were all over me by now, trailing up and down my lower half, never dipping to the inside of my thighs but coming dangerously close.

i could already feel the tingling feeling going straight to my core, aroused from only a couple of touches.

"maria.."

i practically moaned her name as she continued grazing her fingers up and down my body.

"words, cariño. use your words."

"touch me already." i knew i sounded desperate but i didn't care. her touches were driving me insane and i needed her to do something.

"touch you where?" she dropped her fingers to caress my hips.

"here?" then moved them closer, towards my thighs. "or here?"

then moved them even further, dipping her fingers to slide through my folds. "or here?"

a guttural moan left my throat as maria pushed my legs apart, giving her more access to my cunt. her fingers traced my clit, teasing me even more before she plunged her digits into my hole. it was a sudden but welcome intrusion, and my gasp turned to a pleasurable sigh as maria set the pace.

"more, maria. more please."

she happily obliged and added her tongue to the mix, attacking my clit with it first. my fists flew to her hair at the added stimulation, gripping it and pushing her face further into my pussy.

between her fingers and her mouth, i was closely approaching my high.

"'m close, maria. so close."

i could feel her grin against me, fingers and tongue picking up her pace, coaxing my orgasm out. she could feel me clenching around her; i was right on the edge of coming. maria detached her mouth from me to speak.

"that's it, bebita, come for me."

then her mouth was back on my clit, pushing me over the edge and coming on her face. she lapped up every last drop of it, like she hadn't drunk in days. maria helped me come down off my high, still giving kitten licks to return me to reality.

the tremors from the orgasm slowed and stopped, my breathing returning to normal and i started to sit up to look at maria. she had stood up from where she was on her knees, her shirtless and me pantless, both grinning at eachother like maniacs.

"that was so unexpected, but i loved every second of it."

"round 2?" maria smirked at me knowingly.

"slow down, tiger. take me to dinner first."

[outsideratheart]

Yes barcelona played bad and there’s so many ways in which we did so but I do want to give City credit because they played incredible football last night and make us look like amateurs at times. They did their research and it showed.

Now, let’s talk Barcelona:

Once again you put us in cold weather and we seem to forget how to play football. Also, it proved that we are so use to making teams adapt to our playing style than we cannot seem to adapt when another team is dominating.

Alexia? Alexia Putellas? That wasn’t who was on the pitch last night. You know I love her and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I would have brought her off at half time. She seemed to have made her job and others player’s a lot harder last night. She left the left side of the attack empty and gave Frido no options for a give and go.

Mapi? She looked so rusty and was making very silly mistakes. I haven’t seen her like that before.

Aitana barely touched the ball in the first half and in the second half she had a couple of good moments but it wasn’t the level she normally plays with.

Why we didn’t use Caroline more in the first half, I have no idea. The first time she got a real chance to do anything she took it herself and almost scored. It was great but look how much better we played in the second half when we used her.

Cata Coll, please for all culers stop giving us heart attacks. Stop fucking about when your back line play the ball back to you. We see it week in and week out, it’s getting old real quick. You are our starting goalkeeper for god’s sake.

I honestly felt bad for Ewa. Looks at the options she was given, barely any. She can only score when she is played the ball.

The girls on the pitch, our 11, did not play well last night but the squad decisions didn’t help us in the slightest. We had Aitana, Alexia, Patri and Keira all in midfield which can work if Alexia plays more on the left or as a attacking option. The midfield was way too congested and the girls were on top of each other. We should have made changes at half time and around the 60th minute. There was a moment went we had a goal kick and mapi was going to take it until a member of our coaching staff starting yelling instructions. We got instructions on how to take a goal kick.

Ingrid Engen, you Norwegian princess, she was our backline last night and the best player on the pitch. That is until Pere, for god knows what reason, took her off.

We were lucky not to have conceded more in the first half especially whenever Mary Fowler and Lauren Hemp had the ball.

Last night was not Barcelona football and we need to be better.

[awfcrusso]

My thoughts on every single player today for Barça

Starting XI

Cata - needs to stop pissing about with the ball on the goal line it’s gonna backfire massively eventually. But to be fair she made a good few saves could’ve easily been more.

Frido - did fuck all really basically always passed backwards made a few nice passes to alexia but that’s it.

Mapi - fucking awful her and Ingrid as a CB partnership doesn’t work. They’re a great couple but a CB partnership not so much. Honestly baffled at how she managed to play a full 90’ that booking she got she was bloody lucky Ingrid was there or that was a red card.

Ingrid - was better of the CBs coped with Bummy relatively well. Personally feel she shouldn’t have been subbed off but hey ho im not the manager. She is as solid defender.

Ona - wasn’t great wasn’t awful honestly didn’t really notice her in the first half she did an awful throw in in the second half tho.

Keira - didn’t notice her at all in the entire game apart from that god awful shot she had near the end of the game.

Patri - worst player on the pitch for me. Can’t pass for shit especially forwards passing back to mapi she’s great at that but we aren’t playing fucking rugby. Honestly can’t believe she wasn’t taken off at half time abysmal.

Aitana - had an… okay game. Came alive towards the end of the game and made a good few chances could’ve had more chances if you know caro would fucking run but whatever. One of the better players of the starting XI.

Alexia - was fucking everywhere on that pitch can’t really complain at her today could’ve probably done more tho but so could everyone.

Ewa - best player that started ran her fucking socks off for unlucky a few times wasn’t she the one that hit the post? And then that shot that was cleared off the line by Laia. (We need her next season) kinda dwindled towards the end of the game but girlie was probably dead.

Caro - second worst after Patri. Literally did nothing had a few chances but blew them badly. So many passes that came her way and she just didn’t fucking run drove me up the wall. I’m a firm believer she should get that ballon dor but girl these performances she’s been putting out this season aren’t it. Please please become 23/24 CGH again xoxo.

Subs

Pina - brought that spark to the attack that we were seriously lacking but bringing Ingrid off for her was a lil weird. But easily POTM for me tonight changed that game attacking wise a tone and should’ve started.

Esmee - another player I firmly believe should’ve been brought on at half time. Came on in that LB role she’s been playing all season and calmed that area of the pitch down. She’s gonna be immense this season.

Irene - should’ve A. Started. B. Come on at half time or C. Come on with Pina. She’s a brick wall we need her in defence she needs to be the starting CB especially in big games like that with players like bunny shaw against us. We needed her today played well for what the 10 minutes she was on the pitch??

Vicky - I love her I really do. Spent more time doing caros job when she came on this girl is gonna win a ballon dor. Again brought a spark that we so desperately craved but unfortunately was just too late.

Kika - a bit like Vicky but more bitey again could’ve done with been given more time and not have been brought on when we were 2-0 down in the 86th minutes does that man expect these kids to work wonders or something???

Manager

Pere - me no like you. You’ve changed something about this Barça team and I’m not a fan of it they’ve lost all the flair and confidence they had under Jonatan. And with him we aren’t winning that CL sorry to say it.

Jonatan - come back home I miss you gonna kms

[romancomicsblog]

Do we need live action heroes?

To me, nothing has ever gotten me excited quite like superheroes.

I remember way back to my 7th grade. I was 12 years old, and had an incredibly difficult time that year. I did not have many friends yet, transferring into a new school, and was struggling to connect to anyone.

All I had was in that huge building was my brother, who was off dealing with high school. My grades slipped, my friends from my old school slowly drifted, and I found myself running more and more back to heroes for comfort. Whether it be movies, comics, or animated shows, superheroes helped me escape what would be the worst year of my life that far, with most of my joy and anticipation that year surrounding one singular event.

2012’s The Avengers.

All year until May I watched the trailer, looked at posters, and watched Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Iron Man, Thor, or Captain America The First Avenger to get myself ready. I remember smiling, sitting for 3 hours in line before the film to get good seats for the gathering of my heroes, a culmination of years of waiting.

To this day, movies like Endgame or No Way Home come very close, but nothing felt like that to me. And while I understand part of it was me being a child, the MCU and other superhero movies have continued to give me comfort in the best of times and the worst times. They have constantly been a force for good for me and a way for me to connect to those around me. 

Which is why I’m sad to say, things have been bleak. Not in my life, but rather in the content that has been seen as acceptable to put out. Several big companies have been fumbling the ball lately with some devastatingly mediocre chapters in their respected sagas.

Last year was an abysmal year for DC, as they produced 4 flops at the box office. With the exception of Blue Beetle (which I love), each other entry in DC’s last year ranged from forgettable to downright abhorrent (I’m looking at you Flash). I was a big fan of the last Shazam and was pleasantly surprised by Aquaman, but both felt like they were going through the motions instead of bringing us exciting fresh takes on the characters that made the original two films great.

Due to the ever growing SPUMC (Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters), we’re looking at a terrible year for superhero movies. We already had the perplexing Madame Web, with Venom The Last Dance and Kraven the Hunter to end the year. While these movies can have some fun performances, in general they feel sloppy, mismanaged, with subpar writing at best. As fun as it is to see Tom Hardy in a lobster tank, I don’t feel anything for Eddie Brock. And that sucks.

Finally, there’s the MCU.

Now, if you’re looking for me to bash entries in the MCU like The Marvels, you came to the wrong page, that’s not what this is.

In GENERAL, I like a lot of the swings they’ve taken since Endgame. Shang-Chi is still one of my favorite MCU movies. No Way Home had heart to it and wasn’t just a cash grab movie. Eternals had a vision and beauty I appreciate. Loki has one of my favorite finales of any tv show.

But they’ve been disconnected. It isn’t this seamless chapter book with a clear beginning, middle and end anymore. There is so much expansion with characters that we have no idea where they are going. To go back to just one of those I just mentioned, where is Shang-Chi? That movie was a hit, and yet we have yet to hear anything about a sequel or return.

Due to this focus on expansion, it’s hard to keep that connection with these characters if we don’t see them every few years. Where is America Chavez? Vision? Kingo? Thor? She-Hulk? This is a problem.

Couple this problem with the fact that VFX workers are worked to the bone, movies are being filmed without scripts finished, an emphasis on a multiverse storyline that doesn’t have a really clear path, and what seems like a vendetta against using comic book storylines, the films and television shows have been struggling to connect.

After all these catastrophes, you’d think it’d be a rough time to be a superhero fan. But really, it’s never been better.

Animation has been saving us.

To be fair, animation has always been respected and loved by the comic book community. X-Men the Animated Series, Batman the Animated Series, Young Justice, Spectacular Spider-Man and more have not only been people’s favorite superhero content, for many it is their in. I started by watching Spider-Man the Animated Series, and things have only gotten better from there.

Shows like My Adventures with Superman have reintroduced a new generation to Superman in a way that feels extremely accurate and fresh. It has also given us an incredibly adorable and heartfelt love story between Lois & Clark, something live action movies and shows really struggle with. Can you think of the last good couple in the MCU? And don’t say Spider-Man and MJ, because most of why we like them is because we like Tom and Zendaya.

Other shows like Invincible & Young Justice deal with heavy topics, such as grief, sexual orientation, gender identity, and trauma all in a way that feels human and real. Invincible in particular deals with grief and betrayal in its second season beautifully, all enhanced by incredible voice work from actors giving it their all.

Even the MCU has used animation in surprising ways. X-Men 97’ recently brought back the styling of the X-Men animated series, with the powerful messaging the X-Men are known for. With enhanced animation, a clear vision, and an emphasis on using classic comic book storylines, many are not only considering it a hit, but the best thing Marvel has done in years.

Even it’s more MCU heavy animated show What If had a much better second season, and while it’s not as deep or as good as the other shows I’ve mentioned, it’s worth noting it was a lot of lighthearted fun during the holidays. Definitely check out the Happy Hogan Die Hard episode.

Finally, Sony of all people gave us the best superhero film of the year last year with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. While everyone expected it to be good, I don’t think anyone expected it to be such an achievement. With incredible voice acting, a meta narrative about fans' relationship to the character of Miles, incredibly human moments and of course, a hero no one can not root for, Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse easily will go down as one of the best superhero movies ever made.

I remember the ending of the film, where our heroes are finally gathered, and Miles is faced with what seems like impossible odds, and as the music swells, Gwen Stacy asks the audience “Are you in?”

And that was the moment I felt it again. The excitement, the joy, I really was a kid again, jumping out of my seat excited to see Beyond the Spider-Verse.

So if we can use animation to tell stories that connect, that show love stories in a way we haven’t seen, action in a way we haven’t seen, utilizing and respecting comic books, all while drawing out incredible performances, why are we emphasizing live action? 

I don’t think we truly need more live action shows of B list characters. And to their credit, I think studios are noticing too. Marvel has a few more animated projects coming out, and DC will be releasing Creature Commandos this year. But they will be putting out just as many live action shows focused on expansion as they have been.

Is it time to reconsider how we tell these stories? 

I know no matter what I say, we will get live action. And I’d be lying if I were to say that many projects out there excite me. Superman, The Penguin, Spider-Man Noir to name a few.

But I think it’s time we use superheroes to go back to their roots. We should be using superheroes to bring artists and animators to the forefront. Shows like Invincible, My Adventures with Superman and X-Men 97’ give us a clear picture of what superhero media can and should be. Story driven, beautiful, and full of meaning. Something we as people can finally connect to.

Thank you so much for reading! Please consider following, and check out my socials and other sites here! And let me know: What's your favorite animated superhero show?

[rose-and-thorn-fanfics]

“Honor Among Thieves & Dreamers” a Luke Castellan x Fem! OC Fanfic (PART 2)

Exploring Camp Half-Blood was both exciting and intimidating for Sonya. Luke showed her the archery range first, explaining that the children of the god Apollo tended to have a knack for archery.

“-But I prefer swordplay.” Luke added. “Clashing blades is a more social way to fight.”

Sonya nodded. Luke seemed like the kind of guy who would be good with that genre of weaponry. “Are you going to show me some of your skills?” Sonya asked, blushing after realizing she had spent a good three minutes of silence staring at Castellan and picturing him fighting with a shining sword.

Luke laughed, seemingly unperturbed by her intense stare. “Of course, but I’d feel better if you watched me fight someone else. I don’t want to cause you to have… cat… cata…”

“-Cataplexy. And ok! I’m cool with that!” Sonya smiled, happy that he was taking her disability into consideration.

Luke called over another boy who looked to be about his age. “This is Damien from Cabin 5.” Luke said, gesturing to the boy. Damien looked like an intimidating contrast to Luke. He was a bit taller, and was more obviously muscular. He didn’t bother saying hello to Sonya as they walked to the arena. Many wooden seats and tall stone pillars surrounded a circular clearing of dirt. A few girls were dueling but when they saw Luke they stopped and made space for him and his opponent. Sonya made note of the damage on the first few rows of seats, and took a seat on a bench that was farther away. ‘Cabin Five….’ She wracked her brain trying to remember which god that would be. Her eyes scanned the surrounding cabins until they landed on the cabin on the left side of Camp Half-Blood. ‘Based on the hostile architecture, that must be… Ares Cabin.’ She concluded. Her spine tingled uncomfortably. ‘I sure hope Luke knows what he’s getting into, fighting a child of the god of war.’ Sonya shivered.

“You ready, Damien?” Luke asked, drawing Sonya’s attention to the arena again.

Damien’s face twisted into a fierce grin that almost seemed more like he was baring his crooked teeth. “You know I always am, Castellan.”

The duel began. Damien was powerful but Luke was fast in his movements, dodging each blow of Damien’s club with masterful technique. Luke spent the first two minutes dodging, which confused Sonya at first. Some burly looking kids took a seat next to Sonya. She tensed as they began taunting Luke. “When are you going to stop fighting like a coward, Castellan? Are you scared to take the offensive stance? LAME.”

Luke paid them no mind, biding his time until Damien’s attacks became slower and more labored. It was only then that Luke flipped the duel into a complete mess for Damien. Luke dodged, spun, and slammed his sword into the Ares boy’s armored side, knocking him off balance so his form got sloppy. The kids next to Sonya went quiet, seemingly taken aback by Luke’s strategy. After that it was blow after blow from Luke, until (bruised and embarrassed) Damien surrendered, and admitted Luke had won fairly.

Sonya clapped, cheering for Luke and making her way down to the clearing where he’d been fighting.

Luke greeted her, setting his sword aside and accepting her compliments with a good-natured laugh. “Thanks for humoring me and watching the duel, Sonya.” He said, wiping sweat from his brow. “Now, once I get this armor off, do you want to see the strawberry fields? It’s a great place to relax, especially after a fight.”

“Yes! I’d love to.” Sonya smiled. She felt pretty tired herself. And strawberries were her favorite fruit!

Luke finished taking the armor off, and changed his shirt for a fresh Camp Half-Blood shirt. Sonya struggled not to have cataplexy when he was taking off the old shirt. ‘Why is he doing this in front of me? Is he trying to impress me?’ Sonya thought, struggling against oncoming cataplexy as she witnessed Luke temporarily shirtless. ‘It’s working. Damn it. Why is he so hot?’ Thankfully for the sake of her not collapsing, he didn’t hesitate too long before putting on the fresh shirt.

If Luke noticed her blushing, he made no sign of it. He seemed more concerned that she didn’t topple over on their way to the strawberry field. Which, of course, was greatly appreciated.

The fields of strawberries stretched out for quite a while. Luke settled down by an olive tree on the edge of the field, still catching his breath after the duel, while Sonya picked and ate some strawberries after rinsing them in the stream that cut through the forest that framed the fields.

The sun was warm but not harsh, and a gentle breeze blew her hair gently now and then. She felt Luke’s gaze on her while she picked and ate strawberries, going back and forth between the fields and the forest stream. Usually with boys this would upset her, but his gaze didn’t feel intrusive. It seemed almost… protective. She wondered if he put this much care and effort into helping every new demigod get settled in to this camp. Finally, after eating her fill of strawberries, she sat down next to Luke, leaning back against the thick-trunked olive tree. She thought about her brother for a moment. She could picture him sitting in deep thought in this very spot.

But she pushed the thought away. It was too painful. Finally, she spoke up. “Thank you, Luke.”

Luke turned to her. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “For what?”

“For taking care of me. Even if it’s standard procedure. Even if it’s just for today. It’s more than anyone has ever done for me.” Sonya said, holding back tears.

Luke sighed, frowning. “It’s not just for today, Sonya.”

“Really?” She said. Her heart flip flopped in her chest.

“And I guarantee it’s not standard procedure.” Luke laughed wearily. “Standard procedure is… give the demigod a shirt and throw them in Cabin 11.”

“Then why…?” Sonya started.

“—if we don’t look out for each-other, then who will? Certainly not the gods.” A shadow fell on Luke’s face. “And Chiron is great and all but there are so many overlooked demigods. Your brother… he wouldn’t have died if… if I had just been more attentive.” Luke said, his voice filled with regret.

“You can’t blame yourself for that, Luke. Miguel didn’t listen to anyone. Not me… not my mom. No one. I love my brother, but I dont miss him. If that makes any sense…”

Luke’s expression softened. “I understand.”

Sonya and Luke stared out at the fields from beneath the shade of the olive tree’s branches. ‘There is at least some peace here. In this moment.’ Sonya thought, eyes getting heavy with exhaustion. She leaned her head on Luke’s shoulder.

THANK YOU FOR READING! If you liked this and want a part 3, reblog and comment! Tysm!

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[johaerys-writes]

WIP Wednesday

Another Wednesday, another WIP! After breaking my own damn heart with the last disasters chapter, I thought I'd have some lighthearted fun with the omegaverse AU and torture Achilles some more. So have a snippet from the next chapter of As Fate Would Have It, which is finished and should be up tomorrow (when I have more brainpower to finish editing 🫠):

"You never answered my question last night." 

"What question?"

"Have I sworn an oath of celibacy to you after all? Or was last night's scene just a one time thing?"

Achilles' jaw clenches. Alcmena has drifted closer to their table to refill Phoenix's cup; when she notices Achilles' eyes on her, she blanches and hurries away, tending to the tables far down the hall. 

"Are you that eager to bed that serving girl, beloved?" Achilles asks acidly. His scent has turned sharp once again, prickling Patroclus’s nostrils. "Had I known you were so desperate for her, I would have made her part of our arrangement." 

Patroclus flushes, embarrassed yet still annoyed at the snide and derisive remark. "This isn't about her— it isn’t about that at all. I just need you to tell me exactly what I've agreed to here. And I'll have you know," he adds, perhaps a little more petulantly than is required, "I'm not desperate for anyone. I could have anyone I wanted in this palace, and there's nothing you could do to stop me." 

It is an empty threat; Patroclus' half-hearted attempts at courting have been disappointing at best, but Achilles doesn’t need to know that. 

Achilles glares at him, affront writ clear and sharp across his features. The sound of his chair being pushed back is startlingly loud in the half-empty hall; Achilles springs to his feet and stomps away, his breakfast largely untouched. 

Patroclus gets up after him with an exasperated huff, cursing under his breath. The second time in less than a day that he’s had to abandon a meal early because of the prince's whims. He follows him out of the mess hall and across the yard, towards the palace's main building.

"Wait." 

But Achilles doesn’t. He walks straight past the training yard, the gym and the baths, and into the small secluded yard of the inner palace where he usually has his lessons. 

"Hey," Patroclus says once they're finally alone— he's too proud to admit that the brisk walk across the palace grounds tired him out, but he’s sounding more winded than he would have wanted. "I'm talking to you." 

"I am not," Achilles hisses. He makes his way to the carved bench beneath the shade of the olive tree without sparing Patroclus a look. 

"You don't really have a choice in the matter." Patroclus sits decisively beside him. "I have a right to know. You can’t avoid this conversation forever."

Tagging forth to @baejax-the-great @vimlos @cata-liinaa @annalyia @juliafied @figsandphiltatos @darlingpoppet @aristi-achaion and anyone else who would like to share a snippet of their work!

[apesoformythoughts]

“So it was in Albertyn, as the war tore apart the fabric of our once peaceful lives, my own included, that I came to understand more clearly and in some small way this truth in all its terrible simplicity: ‘Do not be anxious, therefore, saying what shall we eat or what shall we wear, or where shall we sleep, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice.’ We would survive, although the world around us had changed completely. We would go on, today and tomorrow and the next day, picking up the pieces and working out each day our eternal destiny and our salvation. There would be a tomorrow, and we would have to live in it—and God would be there as well. The Church would survive, perhaps not exactly as we had known it at the mission, because the faith would survive among the people of God as it had al ways survived in times of persecution. One thing only need be of great concern to us in all this seeming upheaval and catas-trophe: to be faithful to God and to look to him in everything, confident of his love and his constancy, aware that this world and this new order was not our lasting city any more than the previous one had been, and striving always to know his will and to do it each day of our lives.”

— Walter Ciszek, SJ: He Leadeth Me

[dddegen]

𝖬𝗂𝗋𝗄𝗈'𝗌 𝗋𝖺𝖻𝖻𝗂𝗍 𝗁𝖺𝖻𝗂𝗍𝗌

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: A short list of the habits of Rumi Usagiyama, from My Hero Academia. These habit headcannons focus more on her quirk, rabbit.

Enjoy *ೃ༄

• Most of her innards and systems are that of a rabbit's, and rabbits have very sensitive bodies, meaning she has to be incredibly careful with the things she eats.

• A negative to her quirk is that due to the rabbit innards, she has to eat Timothy hay to keep food moving through her digestive system and prevent G.I. Stasis. She doesn't quite like it, but eats enough to get her through the day.

• Rumi can't actually have carrots a lot. As much as she enjoys them, they're high in the natural sugars, good for people, but unhealthy for her. The same goes for most vegetables and fruits. That's like junk food for her. Tastes great, but doesn't feel great after too much of it.

• Like all rabbits, Rumi actually can't vomit. This makes following a proper diet for her much more important than it would be for others. Unfortunately, it limits her a lot in terms of food diversity, but she finds ways around it by ordering special meals for her to make that give her the nutrients she needs and still provides a good taste.

• She does a "binky" when she gets really excited and hyped up. A binky is when a rabbit does a big jump and quickly twists their head, hind legs, or both! She has a habit of twisting both every time.

• If she's upset, you'll know. You'll hear a big loud thump from that large rabbit foot of hers. It's a very sudden and aggressive thump, and it may even be followed with a small grunt.

• Rabbits are known for grooming similarly to cata, licking themselves clean. Rumi used to groom like a rabbit when she was younger, but grew out of that and began using more proper ways to groom her ears, tail, and paws (yes, she has rabbit paws in my eyes).

• Her nails grow as fast as a rabbit's, which is much faster than a human's nails. She has to clip them more often.

• If you're good enough friends with Rumi, she'll try to get your attention via gently nudging your arm or side. She isn't that insistent or bothersome with it. It's a soft nudge every so often, then she'll patiently wait.

• She can't handle the heat very well, being much more sensitive and prone to heat exhaustion. So her home is normally kept at a pretty cool 20°C (68°F).

• Dusk and dawn are the times of the day she's feeling more energetic and lively. No amount of sleep schedule changes has fixed this, so she sticks to patrolling around those times. It's a difficult work around, but she manages.

• Rumi is a very social woman. She loves being around people and loves to talk with others. Sometimes, she gets a bit lonely at her home, which is why she got a few albino rabbits of her own for her to spend time with. Not as conversational as people, but they keep her content.

• She can get dehydrated easily and needs to drink a 𝗹𝗼𝘁 of water in order to stay hydrated.

• Did you know her teeth never stop growing? Yeah, neither did she until she had to take her first trip to the dentist after her quirk manifested. Those tooths don't ever stop growing, forcing her to make regular trips to the dentist to keep them at a reasonable size.

• She purrs when she is happy or content. She does so by gently rubbing her teeth together. She can also purr when she is in pain.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘙𝘶𝘮𝘪'𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘥𝘥, 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 "𝘰𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥" 𝘺'𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸?

𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥! 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤!

[immortal-elements]

Well, it's balance patch time, you know what that means!

Yep, I'm going to go over all the elementalist changes and say what I think of them.

First up, scepter changes! Historically, scepter has been a really powerful weapon for power builds, fresh air builds normally use scepter due to the fact you can start channeling your air auto-attack, swap out of air and use some instant cast skills during the auto-attack channel, and then swap back to air to do it all again before you even finish the auto channel. These changes mostly increase the power damage scaling of the auto-attacks, as well as water trident, hurl and the weaver dual attacks. This is to help differentiate it from pistol, as the two weapons had so much overlapping identity, being mid-ranged condi weapons. In trying to incentivize power builds using scepter, pistol is finding it's own footing. I just hope they fix the fking bullet UI.

Next, dagger. Shortening the cast time of the flame and ice breath attacks is a great change, but that's not the star of the show here. Let's talk about how busted the new water 3 and air 2 are going to be on catalyst. Catalyst infamously has a hard time giving itself shocking aura. Outside of hammer, (and I guess now pistol, but w/e), air attunement doesn't have combo finishers. This was mitigated in part by things like the arcane skills being combo finishers, or swapping to air mid-cast on a combo finisher, which can be finicky. Now, dagger air 2 is a blast finisher, meaning those dagger/dagger cata duelists you run into in PvP and WvW are going to be that much more annoying, being able to reliably proc shocking aura, transmute it with dagger 3, and then get shocking aura AGAIN! With all the aura synergy in catalyst, this is looking very powerful. As for water 3, it now creates an ice field, (which ele has surprisingly little access to), and then immediately blasts it. Assuming you have no other combo fields out, that translates to area frost aura, which is very powerful in PvP and WvW, and sometimes the -10% damage makes the difference in PvE. All around, these changes make dagger a tankier option for PvP

As for staff changes, they updated the earth wall and the electric fence to do more CC damage more reliably. Gone are the days of being unable to CC xera with the electric fence because her hitbox is too small, gone are the days of whiffing on your earth wall because the boss isn't moving.

Utilities. Basically all of ele's stunbreaks got buffed by means of reduced cooldown. The two winners here are signet of air and armor of earth. Armor of earth is now an incredible defensive skill, breaking stuns every 25 seconds, giving you stability to fight through CC pressure, and protection and barrier! And signet of air already was the best in slot stunbreak, it is now down to a 20 second cooldown. Mist form and arcane shield are meh imo, some people like them, most people don't, but hey, if you happen to be one of the special 8 people who use them, they've got a lower cooldown.

For specializations, Earth! They've baked the barrier gain that used to be on earth's embrace into a minor trait, so you always get that barrier gain. They've also changed how diamond skin works! Now, instead of removing a condi if you get hit while you have over 75% health, you can much more reliably trigger this! Remove a condi from yourself every time you combo with a leap finisher, (sword enjoyers rejoice), and remove a condi from all nearby allies whenever you use a blast finisher! If you've played ele for any amount of time, you know that the majority of it's finishers are blast finishers. The additional blast finisher on dagger air 2 and the additional combo field on dagger water 3 means that this weapon is a condi cleansing machine! Dagger/dagger will now have 4 blast finishers in addition to easy access to combo fields!

And now, water. Flow like water is being changed in PvP and WvW only, it now heals you on evade more frequently, and it also lets you do 5% more damage baseline, and 10% more damage if you are above 50% HP. If you, like me, are a tank weaver enjoyer, then this change is exciting! I already dodge so much on that build, now I get rewarded for doing so more frequently? This build has seen nothing but incidental buffs in these last few patches, and I'm LIVING for it. Soothing ice buffs are nice, they now trigger on healing skill use and can trigger every 15 seconds. It should be noted that unless you are using ether renewal, playing alac tempest, or using the weaver healing skill, this cooldown reduction does not matter as all other healing skills have a 20 second cooldown. Soothing power buff is neat, healers can have an extra 300 vitality, as a treat.

Tempest! They wanted to incentivize people to play power tempest, so they buffed the power scaling on the air overload, and also made it grant fury. Neat! They also increased the amount of might that "Feel the Burn" gives, and it also gives fury. Fire warhorn 4 now always gives fury to allies, because it gives fury to yourself before copying boons! Neat! As for the traits, your boon duration no longer suffers at low health with gathered focus, and you grant allies stability anytime you overload with hardy conduit.

Weaver. I already covered the dual attack changes to scepter, so the only real change is that in PvE, Twist of Fate is still the best in slot stunbreak for weavers, they just lowered the cooldown on it, keeping it in line with the rest of ele cooldowns.

Catalyst. While most of the exciting changes to catalyst have been covered when I talked about dagger, I want to reiterate that you are probably going to see a lot more d/d catalyst roamers. It's still one of the most difficult builds to play well, but these recent changes are going to make it a lot more rewarding to play. The updates to the air and earth augments are nice too. Air augment gets a lower cooldown, keeping it in line with the rest of the stunbreaks, and the earth augment gets a shorter cooldown too, cementing it's place as a best-in-slot defensive utility.

[motsimages]

@dodger-chan tagged me on a music thing about albums, but I don't have albums to listen to anymore. However, I do have memories of albums between my 15 and 20 years-old, so I will list those here:

Estopa (first album also named Estopa). This one was a massive hit and it is a great band. They are still playing and creating music. They are heavily inspired by poor people/worker people music from the 70s, mainly in the form of groups like Los Chichos or Los Chunguitos (check those out, it's an experience), speaking about being overworked, poor, in prison, a drug addict or similar themes. Many songs are actually joyful and fun, but describe very well the life of young people from working neighborhoods. This one is not the most famous, but still one of the classics and directly refers to Los Chichos (because he dreamt of the one in the middle of Los Chichos, they were 3 men).

El Chojin. 2 CDs: Cuando hay obstáculos... and ... Jamás intentes negarlo. He is a rapper, one of the best ones in Spain. I was very much into rap and hiphop as a teenager. His voice is super smooth, and his lyrics are very good. Listening to him will open the door to many of the greatest rappers of Spain in the 90s-2000s. He speaks a lot about racism in Spain, but also about life situations, feelings, etc.

La Excepción. Cata Cheli. Another very famous group of rap in Spain. They are still some fan favourites, one of them (El Langui, a nickname given because of his cerebral palsy) has even act in a movie (haven't seen the movie). They tend to be fun and make fun of themselves. They are from a poor neighbourhood in Madrid, a gypsy area, so they mix in some caló words and references to the stereotypes they have.

Las hijas del sol. They were an aunt and a niece from Ecuatorial Guinea and I loved them. Can't remember the name of the album I had, probably named also like them. Don't know if they are still active. I remember the album had some songs in bubi as well.

t.A.T.u, whatever their first and most famous album became a hit. I liked it because they had some songs in Russian and I already wanted to learn Russian

My first year of university a friend gave me this CD of Lhasa de Sela and I remember I listened to it a lot. Had forgotten about it until the other day I say the name in a CD with recorded music from a lot of friends. @dodger-chan you would love that CD collection, lol.

A friend from Russia recorded this CD by Alina Orlova on my mp3 about 10 years ago, probably the last time I actually had access to a full album. She sings in Russian, Lithuanian and English.

And this is it for today. I now realise I miss listening to full albums and of all the albums I have missed or lost over the years :(

Not tagging anyone because I'm in a hurry but do feel free to share your music!

[flecks-of-stardust]

Sensitivity Reader Info Post

more recent update: dreamless is no longer a fanfic and this post is now defunct. please do NOT respond to the call.

You may have seen me post one of these around a year back. That post is now totally outdated; please refer to this one for future reference.

Let's cut to the chase for this. I've got a bunch of characters whose experiences I don't share, and I just want people who do have those experiences to look over my ideas and maybe talk a little about what they'd be interested in seeing for these characters. I'm very into the idea of casual disability, ie where the fact that a character is disabled is as mundane as, say, the fact that a character is queer. I don't want it to be a big deal if at all possible, though in some cases, they will implicate plot; that's where I need more input.

Dreamless is a Hollow Knight fanfic, so ideally, if you want to help, you should be at least somewhat familiar with the game and the lore, though I'm more than happy to relay information to you if you don't know it. I am working with anthro bugs, so some things will differ from human biology (namely, bug vision), but a lot of things will be mostly translatable to human experiences. Largely I just want personal anecdotes, maybe a space to chat about this character in the context of their disability and iron out some kinks.

Since the last iteration of this post went up, I've met some people who have been a great help on some of these things. I'm going to keep them up just in case other people still want to give input, but anything marked with asterisks (*) is something I still need extra input on. And like last time, there will be spoilers under the cut, so read at your own discretion.

I'm going to separate this by disability/condition I want to have input on, just for organizational purposes. Asterisks will be put around the header for the disabilities/conditions I want extra input on, and will also be bolded.

Blindness/Visual Impairment

Lurien — blind via injury; he essentially got his corneas melted. He has a bit of retinal damage and a bit of color vision loss from that, but the bigger impact is actually what's left of his corneas healing in a way that gives him really severe astigmatism. At the point in the story that he shows up in, he's been blind for decades, so he's very accustomed to the way things are now. He does have some visual correction from his mask, which is enchanted to work like glasses, and he uses the equivalent of a white cane to get around. He also paints and plays the harp, and can also build several kinds of instruments.

I have received a lot of input about him; I know that with good lighting he'll be able to do a lot, and he'll likely turn his head to see from the better side of his vision a lot. The reason he's blind is a bit plot relevant, but honestly this is one of those things where regardless of whether he's blind, he would still react the same way. He just so happens to be blind. This is a theme in a lot of these characters; I just want to know how they would go about their lives, disability or no.

Monomon — blind by birth. She's a jellyfish, specifically based on a box jelly, so she has eyes, they're just. Really really tiny. At her size and the size of things around her, her eyes kind of can't keep up. She's roughly equivalent to having pretty bad myopia, though I couldn't give you an exact figure on how bad. She's a scientist and her Archives double as her lab, so she does work with dangerous substances from time to time. I know she'll have lots of tools to help her though, and again, good lighting will help, as well as her mask, which is enchanted to work like bifocal glasses. I've also been told that her visual impairment won't be that bad, but again if anyone has any other input I'd appreciate it.

Glimmer — aka the Hollow Knight; blind by injury. As of their appearance, their right eye ruptured and had to be amputated, and their left eye has what could be likened to cataracts. There's still shards of Radi's influence inside their remaining eye that no one can safely operate on to remove, so they're just leaving it as is. This means they have very little remaining vision, and I'm uncertain how this would change something like direct combat. Not that they'd have the energy to fight much of anything once everything is resolved though, honestly. They're more inclined to burrow into a pile of blankets.

*Epilepsy*

Orchid — aka Greenpath Vessel. Hornet pretty much gave them brain trauma, and that and some magical shit going on resulted in them developing epilepsy. They still have mainly absence seizures, but I haven't fully decided if they ever end up having a grand mal. That's really something I'd prefer discussing with someone, since their epilepsy becomes plot relevant in two different instances. Just want to run it by someone who actually has experience with this, yknow. Their epilepsy is unmedicated because no one's figured out how to actually get the typical treatments to work on them yet since they're Void based. You can treat it like medication resistant epilepsy if need be. I do need more information on what it's like to mostly have absence seizures; most of the information I've found so far focuses on grand mals, which is very understandable.

Lyzi — an original character; she's a white mantis. She has idiopathic epilepsy that developed out of nowhere fairly late, like around her early twenties. That fact can change if necessary though. She's grown accustomed to living with her epilepsy, and it's also medication controlled now. I don't think she's had a breakthrough seizure in years, but you never really stop worrying about it. She mostly has myoclonic seizures, which, again, I do need more information on.

*Service Animals*

Lyzi — putting her right after again because this ties into what I said above. Lyzi has a service grub (effectively a service dog), Asta, who is not with her for the entirety of the main story. Mostly I just want to run this by someone who has a service dog/animal to work out some logistics. The main idea behind this is that where Lyzi escaped to is inhospitable to Asta, and trying to bring her along would almost 100% guaranteed kill her, so Lyzi had to leave her behind. I'm just a little concerned since I know how important service dogs are to keep their handlers safe, so I want to talk about it with someone.

*Amputees*

Glimmer — if you've seen them you will know that they canonically lost an arm. In Dreamless, it was their left arm, and it's effectively a traumatic amputation. From what I've seen from leg amputees I know there's a lot of shifts in muscle weight bearing and energy needs overall from the sudden loss of a limb, but I haven't found much information that's specifically about arm amputees. I don't mind input from amputees who did not have a limb/limbs from birth though; again, a lot of this is very casual and background, I mostly just want to know how they'd go about their life, though there is some plot that is relevant to them losing their arm. They do confront their sire at some point down the line, so. Maybe we'll talk about that a bit too.

*Adoption Trauma*

Hornet — I feel like no matter which way you cut it, Hornet's a trans racial adoptee from the Spider Tribe that was sort of dual fostered by Veska, the Wasp Queen, and the pale rulers. More so Veska though. I've seen some stuff about this; a few advocates talk about the inherent trauma of adoption, even if your adoptive parents are kind and loving, and that's kind of the angle I want to talk about. No matter how much Veska loved Hornet, and she loved her so so deeply, she can't replace what Herrah was to Hornet, and she can't give Hornet the true experience of the culture she was forced to leave behind. She doesn't even really have visitation with her old kingdom, she was just totally cut off for years. I can extrapolate a bit based on my own experiences, but if possible it'd be nice to talk to someone about this.

Stuttering and/or vocal disorders

Aila — Myla in canon, name just slightly changed for conlang reasons. Mostly just me wanting to know how best to approach writing her dialogue, since I want to expand on her canonical stutter. I recently got information on this, but other folks who want to chime in are more than free to do so.

If you're interested in giving input, let me know via sending me an ask, and then we can communicate more from there on out. I typically prefer talking over discord since it's easier to share information there, and tumblr's chat function is. Pretty fucking ass, to be honest, but it's not a strict necessity. If you don't want to commit to a more formal sensitivity reader arrangement, but still want to provide some input, you're more than free to leave stuff in the comments, like thoughts, concerns, resources that you want me to have, etc. I'm very open to it all.

I will say that I can't offer very much in terms of compensation, but I'm very happy to boost your work/follow you/whatever else you want if you want me to. And you're also just free to ask more about my characters, and I'll see what I can share without spoilers fgkjsd

[tarnishedxknight]

@pretty-isnt-pretty-enough

Catalina frowned at how instantaneous Ashelia’s shift was. She understood the need to constantly perform, perhaps better than any Avenger, but Catalina hoped the habit could be broken. Ashelia, after all, didn’t have to lie to every single one of her teammates about her intentions on a daily basis. She still didn’t know why Umbrella was so obsessed with the concept of nethicite, but she held the information close to her chest in the meantime. If something like that fell into the wrong hands… Catalina didn’t want to know what might happen.

“You’re not together yet. I see the way you look at each other.” She folded her arms and smirked. “Besides, you never know what might happen. I swore I’d never commit to a relationship, but I met Carlos, and… things changed for me.” That was the understatement of the century. She’d thought spying was the only thing that mattered to anyone, but her identity outside of it had been fully realized once she’d started to go out with him. If Catalina quit at any point, he probably wouldn’t fault her or hold it against her, which was a tremendous relief. She’d found someone who loved her, Catalina Cisneros, for who she was and not an idealized version of her. “My inten— we’re not getting married. But he’s sweet and kind and funny, and he always puts others over himself. He wouldn’t take issue with it, trust me.”

Catalina knew what it was like to feel disconnected from the person you once were and the person you were becoming, and fashion was a large part of discovering herself once more. Reclaiming her culture was another integral part of that journey; she got to speak Spanish with Ashelia and Carlos instead of creepy old men who objectified her on missions, and she went by Catalina (or Cata, with those she was truly close with) instead of Catherine. She laughed as Ashelia teased her about her red dress, and she extended her left leg, where the dress had a very high slit.

“I have a question for you, and I need you to be honest with me.” Ashelia’s tells were obvious to her, but then, she’d always been great at deciphering people’s deceptions. She had to be. “Do you ever not… feel like a person? Or like your life is unmanageably sized? And you don’t know who you are anymore? I’ve been there before, and that’s why I want to take you out tonight.

When they arrived at the mall, Catalina smiled and spread her arms, gesturing towards the various shops. People were everywhere, and though Catalina had first started coming to observe for missions, she’d eventually ended up enjoying shopping. Her money could be spent however she wished, and the clothing she wore, the way she styled her hair, and the makeup she donned contributed to her identity in an important way. The same thing must be true for Ashelia, she reasoned.

“This is going to be fun! I haven’t seen Carlos in a month, and I like adding pieces to my closet here and there.” She smiled and took Ashelia by the hand. “But this isn’t about me, it’s about you! It’s important to look like you, and whatever Natasha is trying to dress you in isn’t working, chica. That’s okay, but you want to develop a style that’s all yours. We could go to the hair salon first or one of the dress shops…”

___________

Not together... yet? Was there a chance they could be? Of course not! The idea of it brought color to Ashelia’s cheeks nevertheless. “N-no, you don’t understand,” she said, knowing that Catalina knew nothing of her time period. “I don’t look at him in any particular way, nor does he look at me,” she said, but it was clear that she was frantically trying to convince Catalina, perhaps out of fear, that nothing was there. The reflexive response to avoid scandal and dire repercussions that they both would have faced in their own time was still very real for Ashe. “Basch was my father’s Knight Captain. A lesser noble, a foreigner... and many years my senior. There can never be anything between us, it just... isn’t done. I was never free to choose who I spend my life with. It was decided for me when I was a child. It had to be, for it was of the utmost importance that I marry well and strategically for the sake of Dalmasca. Royalty... do not have the luxury of love or attraction. Marriages were political alliances and nothing more.”

“I-...” Should she venture to say this? Rasler was dead, and yet, Ashe still felt trapped by the ring she still wore on her ring finger. His own wedding ring, retrieved at his burial, was on her right hand. It felt wrong to take them off, as if she still owed him some sort of devotion as an apology for not preventing his untimely death. “I was married to someone else, before coming here. He perished in the war. Basch tried to protect him, but...” She shook her head. “He was royalty, like me. Don’t you see, I would only ever be permitted to be with someone of equal stature.” But was that still true? “At least... it was that way in my own time...” she quickly added. “But my father would never have approved of anything between Basch and I.”

She turned even redder as Catalina said she didn’t have any intentions of marrying Carlos. “You-... Oh. Oh, I’m terribly sorry for assuming,” Ashelia said. “I only thought-... Well, the two of you seem so... intimately involved.” She stopped talking, lest she manage to dig herself deeper. Was it not appropriate in these times to marry someone you were bedding? Carlos was bedding Catalina, wasn’t he? They seemed to have that level of closeness between them, but then again, maybe Ashelia had completely misunderstood. “Please forgive my rudeness,” she said, hoping that would be enough to smooth things over.

Ashelia tried her best to avert her eyes as Catalina lifted her leg and her dress parted at the slit. Considering women to be attractive was most definitely not something that had been accepted in Ashe’s time, and so her bisexuality was a very closely kept secret. Only her brother Caelen knew, and she’d sworn him to secrecy. She knew he wouldn’t say anything, though, because he was bisexual too and struggling to come to terms with it. Even so, she knew she ought not to stare at beautiful women, much as she might want to.

Catalina’s question, though... It struck Ashelia in a very deep and unexpected place. Tears came to her eyes quicker than she could hold them back. “I constantly felt that way, before my father was killed. I seemed to exist only as a bargaining piece, not as the true heir I should have been, all because I was born female. My destiny should have been to rule, and instead I could only hope to be married off...” And that was not even the worst of it. “But the sad thing is that I would gladly suffer that fate now, if I could only return to my own time! Here, I feel like a useless, discarded anachronism! With no purpose, no future, and no... place...” She covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry...” she whispered a moment later. “I did not mean to yell.” She shrugged hopelessly. “I have no idea who I am anymore, and I am not certain clothes will change that.”

That was not to say that she wasn’t up for shopping with her, though. “I appreciate the offer, and I would like to go, even if it doesn’t solve all my problems suddenly in one fell swoop,” she said with a smile, despite her tears. As Catalina flew into a pleasant frenzy about all they were going to do that day, Ashelia blinked in confusion. “Look... like me? I look how I ought to look. How else am I to appear?” she asked, not quite understanding. “I never thought much about how I wanted to look. It was always decided for me.” SHe looked down at herself when her friend said that Natasha’s ideas of jeans and a t-shirt weren’t working for her. “They aren’t?” she asked. “I was told these were customary for this time period.” Her brow furrowed. “A style that’s... all mine? I’m not sure I understand. If I could, I would return to Dalmascan styles, but... no one seems to know what those are in this time period...”