#i think going into stuff now the idea of a character who just pokes at dangerous stuff from a desire for the absolute truth

[cielospeaks]

the last couple months for me be like

[that1fanficwriter]

If The Hat Fits

Dodge Mason x fem!reader

Summary: Dodge shows you what happens when you wear a cowboy’s hat

Warnings: smut with plot, little bit of a marking kink, no use of y/n, unprotected sex but reader could be assumed to be on bcp.

AN: I finally finished this! It has taken me literal minutes to finish this. This is my first time writing smut so we’ll see how it goes. I’m very open to feedback. I recently got back into Panic so hopefully, everyone will like it; let's just ignore any plot or character inconsistencies. I also have no idea how rodeos or anything like that works.

Even though you had grown up in Texas, you had never heard about what happens if you wear a cowboy's hat. You started dating Dodge shortly after he moved to Carp, and it had been going swimmingly ever since.

Today you were meeting Dodge over at the farm at the edge of town where the rodeo is being held later this afternoon. You had never seen Dodge compete, and you were worried because, living in Texas, you always heard about things like this going awry.

Once you got the field (is it considered a field? arena, maybe?) and parted ways with your sweet cowboy, giving him a god luck kiss, you chose a spot along the fence so that you could get the best view of your man.

Finally, after a little while of waiting, everyone came out for the competition.

~Time Skip because I don't know sports~

After the competition was finished, you patiently waited for everyone to congratulate Dodge before you approached him to give him your own congratulations on his achievement.

"Hey there, cowboy. You did pretty well out there." You say as you meander over to Dodge and wrap your arms around his neck.

"Why, thank you. It always helps to have my good luck charm cheering me on." He bends down to pick you up and spin you around. Once he sets you down, you pull him down to kiss you.

"Should we get going?" You ask.

"Yeah, let me go grab my stuff." He responds. Before he can walk away, you grab the hat from his head and put it on your own. Dodge surprises you and doesn't say anything; he gives you a cheeky smile and walks away. As you lean against the fence, waiting on your phone, you see Ray sauntering over to you out of the corner of your eye.

"What do you want, Ray." You say, groaning, ready for the conversation to be over already.

"I see you're wearin' Dodgey boy's hat." He says with his signature smirk.

"Yeah, and?"

"Don't ya know what happens when you wear a cowboy's hat?"

"No," you say, put off, "would you care to enlighten me?"

"Oh boy, I think that I'll let Dodge clear that up for you since he's coming over this way right now," Ray says before walking away to go torment someone else.

"What did the idiot want?" Dodge asks as he meets you and watches Ray walk away.

"Who knows. Something about what happens when you wear a cowboy's hat." You shrug before grabbing Dodge's hand and walking to the car. While walking, you notice the blush starting to creep up Dodge's neck. "Ok, why are you blushing?" You ask, poking his cheek.

"What? No, I'm not." He deflects.

"Oh yes, you are. I can see it right here. Your ears are turning red." you giggle. "Seriously, what is it."

"Oh, you know, it's just the hat thing."

"Ok, what is the "hat thing," though? Ray wouldn't explain it to me, and I have no idea what it is."

"Really? How have you never heard about it? You have lived in Texas your whole life, right?" He says, turning to you in disbelief.

"Yes! Now would you just tell me already!" You turn to him.

"Sure, let's get in the car first, though, alright?" He says, trying to get you into the car.

You go to the passenger side of the car and get in while Dodge does the same on the driver's side.

"Ok, now spill." You say, facing Dodge.

"I still can't believe you've never heard of this." He laughs. "So, supposedly, if you wear a cowboy's hat, you have to ride the cowboy. You know, the whole “save a horse, ride a cowboy” thing?" He blushes again, running his hand over his face and behind his neck.

"God, that makes so much more sense now." You blush, realizing what this means.

"Exactly. Now that you know, do you want to uphold it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I do." You say, taking his hand in yours.

"Well, my sister and mom aren't home today, so do you want to go to my house?"

"Absolutely," you reply, smile beaming off of your face.

Dodge lets go of your hand and begins to drive back to his house as fast as possible, while both of you hope you won't come across any cops and get pulled over. Once you get back to his house Dodge all but drags you out of the car and into the house. As soon as the door closes, you are pressed against it with Dodge at your lips. With passion growing, he continues to kiss you and starts to move the two of you towards his bedroom.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this.” He whispers into your neck as soon as you are in his room and pressed against the door. “Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?” He asks again, just to be sure. (Consent is so sexy)

“Yes, of course,” you breathe, “I want this so bad. I want you.”

Once those words are issued from your lips, it is as if all control Dodge had before is gone. He immediately begins to attack your neck with kisses and love bites.

“Dodge,” you moan, “what’re you doing?”

“If we’re doing this, I wanna do it right and make sure everyone knows that you’re mine.” He replies, making his way down your neck towards your cleavage.

He slowly works his hands up underneath your shirt, feeling the full expanse of your skin and asking permission to take it off. You nod and let out a moan as he leaves a particularly large hickey beneath your collarbone, right where everyone would be able to see. Dodge slowly began to undress you. After breaking your kiss to take your shirt off, Dodge immediately dives back into your lips this time picking you up to set you on his bed. He slowly starts to kiss his way down your body, only stopping to take your bra off and leave more than a few hickeys on your boobs just for him to see. He slowly starts kissing lower this time; kissing all the way down to your belly button but skipping over your shorts to leave love bites on the inside of your thighs. After felling successful in leaving enough marks on you he looks up with is brown doe eyes again.

"I just want to make sure this is still ok with you," he says giving the inside of your thigh one more kiss.

"Yes, absolutely yes," you groan out.

After hearing your need Dodge jumps back up to give your stomach one last kiss before taking your shorts and panties off in one fell swoop. After ridding you of any unwanted barriers Dodge takes advantage of the newly exposed skin to leave a few more hickies, once again, only for his view. Before he can get even more carried away you stop him.

“You know, I find it a little unfair that you haven’t taken off any clothes yet.” You point out, pushing yourself up to your elbows, displeased at Dodge’s state of undress, or lack thereof.

“Would you like me to fix that for you, princess? Or would you like to do the honors?” He asks, standing with a shit-eating grin. You blush in response.

"I would absolutely like to do the honors," you reply, pushing yourself to kneel on the bed. Slowly you start to kiss him again while you unbutton his shirt. Once you get the shirt all the way unbuttoned you push it off of his broad shoulder and down his arms without breaking the kiss. Then you slowly start kissing your way down his body, making sure to leave a few of your own marks in return. Once you get down to his perfectly chiseled v-line you decide to leave Dodge a group of hickeys in the shape of your initial.

"What are you doing?" Dodge questions, peering down.

"Nothing," you giggle, "just leaving you a little surprise."

Dodge just nods as you slowly start unbuttoning his jeans and pull them down. Once his pants and boxers are kicked off by his feet Dodge pulls you back up into another heated hiss.

"Baby, as much as I would love for you to suck me off right now, I think I might burst if I don't get into your cunt right now and besides, you need to prove that you can wear my hat," he whispers into your ear. He pulls back from the kiss and guides you back on to the bed and sits against the headboard. You crawl up the bed to straddle Dodge, leaning in again to kiss him as you start to grind on top of his throbbing member.

"Ugh," he moans, "you're already so wet for me. Practically drenching my cock and I've barely even done anything."

"What can I say, I love to reward my brave cowboy after every rodeo," you whisper, leaving a hickey near his pulse point. You make your way back up to his lips again while taking his throbbing member in your hand and sliding it up with your throbbing cunt. Slowly sinking down onto him you take a moment to adjust to how long his cock is. Both of you sighing as you sheath his full member inside of you and you feel the pressure turn into pleasure. Once you feel ready you start to move, grinding back and forth on Dodge’s dick.

“Ugh,” Dodge grunts out, “sweetheart you feel so good, so warm and soft around me. I’m not sure how long I’m going to last.”

“Dodge, baby, I can feel you so deep inside of me.” you reply, taking his hand from your hip to put it on your stomach so he can feel the slight bump his cock is making. Dodge moans and throws his head back in reaction, giving you the perfect opportunity to keep littering his neck and chest with kisses as you grind onto his cock.

Eventually, your doting boyfriend can tell that your legs are getting tired despite that fact that you are close to coming. He grips your hips with a renewed fervor and helps you alternate grinding with bouncing on his cock. As Dodge starts to get closer you feel his hand tighten on your hips and he buries his head in your neck. You feel the cusp of your orgasm start to approach and you gasp out.

“Yes! Dodge! Right there!” You say, out of breath as your orgasm washes over you. You feel Dodge’s movements still as he pulls you closer and releases inside of you.

“I love you so much sweets,” he moans into your ear, “fuck, that was so good.”

“Well I guess you have Ray to thank for that.” You giggle, placing a few more nips along the expanse of his neck.

“Shut up,” he says as he flips the two of you over and pins your hands above your head. “I don’t know about you, but I think I need to return the favor.” He pushes his already hard cock back into your pussy, wet with arousal and the mixing fluids of your previous orgasms.

“So did I prove that I can wear your hat? Did I successfully save a horse?” You tease in between moans.

Of course you did, and I had no doubt you would be anything less than capable.” Dodge moans out, continuing to languidly thrust into you. “In fact, I think you should wear my hat to school tomorrow and show if these marks so everyone knows that you’re my girl.” He says, leaving a new string of love bites across the top of your cleavage.

“Ah! Dodge!” You giggle, pushing his head away. “Stop it, now you’re just tickling me. Besides, are you sure we can handle the ribbing from Ray; not to mention that then the judges in panic will know how down bad you are for me. Wouldn’t want them using it against you.” You point out as Dodge stills inside of you.

“Babygirl, I have wanted to scream my love for you from the rooftops ever since we started dating. I want every guy in the state of Texas, hell, the world to know that you are taken by me; that we’re together until the end of time.” Dodge says, placing a gentle had on your cheek and staring into your eyes.

“Oh Dodge,” you exclaim, “you mean everything to me, I don’t know what I’d be without you.” You throw your arms around him and pull him into a kiss, subtly moving your hips again to encourage Dodge to start thrusting again.

He takes the signal and quickly find the right tempo for the both of you. Snaking an arm between your bodies he starts rubbing your clit in time with his thrusts, giving you the perfect stimulation to bring you to the precipice quicker than before. You pull him closer to you, your nails leaving marks along his back as you tumble over the edge. Dodge makes sure to cum at the same time as you and lets his body weight rest in too of you once you both are spent.

“Why don’t I get you cleaned up and make some snack so we can have a night in tonight. My mom and Dana are out of town for one of her appointments so you could stay the night and I could take you to school tomorrow.” Dodge suggests, slowly pulling out of you and moseying over to the bathroom.

“That sounds perfect,” you reply, turning over to face him. “I love you, you know that?”

“Of course I do,” he replies, coming back with a warm washcloth, “I know because I love you with every fiber of my being. Now get comfy because I’ll be right back with snack and my laptop so we can watch our show.” Dodge disappears into the hallway and presumably into the kitchen to make a snack. You fluff the pillows behind yourself and nestle yourself down in the covers, content to wait for your adorning boyfriend to come back so you can cuddle into his side and relax for the evening.

A/N: Not proofread yet. Please let me know how my smut writing is and send me more ideas of what to write!

[chiprewington]

Character Analysis on Chip Revvington, the Chainsaw Consultant.

Genuine Long Post Warning, as well as a LOT of images. This is going to cover literally everything we know about Chip (as of April 25th, 2024) and my take on what's provided In Canon (being his Cogs Ink profile, his Interview, the 1.3 News Article, and In-Game). This is my first try at an In-depth Character Analysis. Screenshots used are from the official Wiki.gg, In-Game, and from the Corporate Clash News Archive.

Prior to being brought on to lead the Deforester Force, it's shown he's clearly a confident Suit, and has a genuine passion for his line of work as a consultant. With his personal statement alone this can be seen on full display with how he writes about himself, including noting how he's not swayed by bribery in any manner. (also the fact he outright pokes fun at one of the bribes will never not be funny to me)

Not to mention his lack of discipline records throughout his 19 months having already worked for C.O.G.S. with his usual job as an external consultant, this plus the fact he has "positive remarks" from his previous places of work shows he's probably in very high demand and really does excel at his job.

This is also shown in his interview, where he also equally shows a lot of passion for his job and genuine interest with answering questions relating to it. Before we get into that though, I feel like it's important to also point out a couple other things that I think about a lot with his profile.

This, being referred to as the "Temperamental Terminator" in the 1.3 trailer, and considering the average age of a Consultant is ~40+ years (and I personally hc him as 48), I think it's safe to say Chip just always was a quick-tempered individual throughout his life. It's one of his less favorable traits that I personally find charming.

And these read to me like Chip's always been considered "scary" among other suits. His behavior isn't the issue (yet) though, he's just a massive guy who happens to have a chainsaw for a snout.

Which. Makes this very interesting. Jennifer, stated something similar above, but I feel as if her intentions are more... unaware than the actual company's. Jennifer sees a guy with a big Chainsaw and thinks "Oh! He can cut down trees with that!" Jennifer ily. The company on the other hand probably has had this idea of what Chip could be a candidate for. They hired him to lead the Deforester Force. His job consists of him sitting in an office. Nothing relating to physical labor in cutting down trees, he just oversees the process. "Chainsaw apparatus will be helpful [...]" suddenly takes on a much darker meaning, in my mind.

Which is how we get here. Chip being modified with a clearly experimental hardware which we all know as the Personality Override. The fact that it was only "partially successful" is a very fun thing to consider.

Note the fact that from a canon standpoint the Override was implemented "2 weeks ago". This will be important later.

(The toon who got the above screenshots is not mine!)

Another fun side-note is the fact that the Override is experimental. It's experimental hardware. Chip is the only one with it. They are using him like a guinea pig. And not to mention "Dealing with Toons far more efficiently" paired with the above company-sourced "Chainsaw Apparatus will be useful [...]", you can't make this stuff up. They turned this guy into a living weapon likely without him knowing the full scope of what would happen if he did get this position in the first place.

Okay. Now we can talk about his Interview. Which even through glancing at it you can see just how passionate he is regarding his work. He is driven and confident that his plans for the Deforester Force will work. He wants to believe that he'll set an example for the rest of the departments to execute a similar plan.

And then this question comes up. And then I have to remind you it's probably been only a couple days since he's modified. And he already has rumors circulating about him.

And the moment the subject is changed, he perks right back up into being passionate about his work.

I also feel like it's worth mentioning the fact he's been actively requesting and wanting Spruce (who recommended him to begin with!!!) to join him in the Deforester Force and keeps being turned down on it. The way this and something else I'm about to touch on are written feels like he's barely been able to see him. These two have a brotherly bond and they're being separated. He misses his brother, man.

That's not even getting into this. Even as I'm writing this I just realized the implications of something at the end of this and I'm going to have to pace around my house thinking about it. But also you can see that even though just the slightest amount of time has canonically passed since the interview, you can already see the toll the Override's been taking on Chip's behavior. While he was once passionate, he's now actively complaining about his job. It's not even about the job itself, it's about what's happened to him.

Not to mention, I feel it also displays his temper in full swing once again- even if he's justified in this sense.

I also need to pay special mind to this ending bit right here because the implication of this with everything else surrounding it fucking broke me. uugghhhhh.

Now this is something I feel is so, so, so important to his character. He actively does not like toons. He clearly shows a certain disgust for them and views them like Animals. Pests. He doesn't hesitate to proudly state his opinion on them. And then you see him in-game.

He hasn't changed his mind about toons at all. Ignoring the fact that "you critters again" insinuates this isn't even his first contact with toons (will get to this later), he's... Restrained. I don't know, this reads to me like he's actively restraining himself from blowing up. "You don't want to see what happens when I get angry." is a warning to just comply and leave.

And then because he doesn't remember he fired the rest of the Deforester Force (another thing I want to touch on), he actively gets upset and angry at the remaining flunky because of course someone as high-rank as himself wouldn't want a Flunky on such an important team. Once again, additionally showing his active temper. His active temper he just tried to restrain and bottle up.

And that's what breaks the camel's back. The Override most likely activates from excessive anger/distress, something that Chip Actively Struggles With. He has to bottle himself up because if he tries to be his usual hot-tempered self, which is who he naturally is, he's just going to lose himself. Lose himself to cog knows how long as being a lifeless machine that perfectly and efficiently complies with the commands its given.

He begs for help when he's able to partially regain control (emphasis on partially, considering the most he can do is speak and prevent Deadwood from happening), but like. Again, to me this reads as the fact he is currently Incredibly Fucking Terrified because he's completely aware the whole time the Override is active. He can see himself acting against his will. It's mortifying. He's willing to beg anyone for help because the Override is genuinely traumatizing for him.

Which makes this all the more harrowing. He can't keep the Override at bay forever (likely the only reason why he partially regained control is from the sheer amount of pain he put himself in by ripping out one of his bulbs. You can see him brace himself and wince when that happens). Once again, "save yourselves" in this context feels more like he's scared. He's terrified. Because the Override sucks. And the implication of "ALL RAM CLEARED" doesn't leave much room to assume anything other than the Override likely clears out Chip's memories in order to make more processing room for this janky hardware to run at a constant overclocked state. I wonder how much of Chip's memories have been removed because of that thing, honestly.

By the way did you know that a normal chainsaw runs an average of 12,000 RPM. Do you think about how the little RPM icon is his saw smoking as if it's overheating. What the hell is the Override doing to him internally.

Another added touch I think about a lot is how his battle as a whole is, for the most part, very predictable. You control what cheats he does. Even in technical battle terms, everything is out of Chip's control. As long as every gag hits, you're really just manipulating an enemy's AI to to make the most optimal choices to your benefit. The Override perceives "X", and responds with "Y". You're not fighting an actual individual, just a program.

Clearly, whatever it's doing to him, it's painful (not mentioning the agonizing scream he lets out during this). And thank Cog he was able to regain control at the last second because it's way too obvious that the Override's "final fallback procedure" likely involved some kind of lethal force when it lunges at the toons. (The Chainsaw Apparatus will be helpful.)

There's no sorrow in Chip's words, that's what I think. Everything here is bitter. It's numb, to me.

He's clearly been through this song and dance multiple times by now. He's pissed at the toons, at the company, and at himself. But he can't properly let it out. You know what will happen if he does. The most he can do is throw a chair and scream into the air. (which that line gets its own custom voice clip, fun fact!)

It's clear he's been isolated ever since he's been upgraded, and it seems like he's bitterly accepted it. The only thing he has left to lose is Spruce, which is why he tells the toons not to tell him. If he loses Spruce...

I don't think he'd have much left. It'd make sense why he's grown so restrained and numb and stilted in his speech. He's quickly grown to learn that he can't let himself express anymore, all because of the override.

The fact that everyone else around him views him poorly doesn't help. His employees fear him. Most of them probably don't realize something is wrong, spread rumors about him, or outright attack him through hatemail. Written in Cipher.

"Chip has some anger issues. I would be careful around him. Don't worry about the Cogs though, I'm sure they'll be fine. Might get demoted back to their initial tier, but that's what happens when you work with Chip. Good thing that Toons can't get fired-- or wait, they can, can't they? Do Toons LIKE getting fired? I will never understand those animals. And you seen Spruce around lately? I haven't. I wonder how his deforesting expedition is going. There is a secret message up ahead in Chip's room. Can you find it? If you are stuck, have you considered looking around your surroundings?"

"I can't stand Chip anymore. I know I'm a Yesman, but I have to say NO. He used to be cool up until his sensors flared off. After what he did to my fellow coworker, I don't know if I can continue working under him. Sure, he's one of the most organized managers I've ever worked with, not to mention the flowing passion he has for the Deforester Force. His personality issues can single-handedly cause all of our projects to collapse. One of my former coworkers had raised concerns about Toons taking over our buildings and ultimately undoing all work that was done on our end. That poor Pencil Pusher overstepped his boundaries with Chip when he admitted his failure to secure "our" project from the Toons. Up until this point, I have never seen a Cog fire another Cog. With a cannon."

"It grinded my gears when I saw that happen. Him and I worked nonstop for days straight, while this pile of bolts just sat there doing his paperwork. I wouldn't be surprised if he was just doing crossword puzzles or writing letters to his little buddy. If you are reading this Mr. Revvington, you are the reason for our decline. We are running out of Deforester Force members because of you. As someone who has gone through close-call battles with the Toons, I hope you experience what it's like to have boulders and anvils fall from above you. You can try to fire me with that shoddy cannon of yours, but you would have to track me down first. I've already left the area and was recruited to a new organization far more stable than you will ever be."

------

...I genuinely love Mr. Revvington. He's a Suit who's been dealt the worst hand he could possibly ever get in life. He was just like anyone else, and then everything happened ever since joining C.O.G.S.. He's isolated, he's temperamental, he's pissy, he'd genuinely be someone hard to get along with because of the fact he's struggling with all sorts of issues and would be incredibly difficult and annoying to even start talking to and forming a bond with unless you're both stubborn and have patience. He's awful, and I love him for it.

I genuinely believe he's one of the most complex, beautifully written, and depressing characters in Corporate Clash. Maybe I dive way too deep into things about him, maybe he's not that deep at all. But I like to think about him. He makes me emotional, but he also makes me happy. Thank you for making him exist.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Drawing each other (CRPS 1/2)

I'm probably going to forget to break these posts up unless like- I dont write all the fandom parts at once so I'm sorry you guys have to see the same prompt but different groups of characters/fandoms over and over LMAO

Characters: slenderman, splendorman, masky, hoodie, ticci toby

Notes: reader is GN, admin tossed a coin on whether or not the reader is an artist or not

CWs: none

SLENDERMAN

neither of you are... good artists... but neither of you are about to judge one another for your skill levels

im... not even sure hes picked up a pencil before in his life, and that shows in his drawing of you

he keeps the art you make of him tucked away somewhere, where exactly... youre not actually sure, but you know he keeps them as youve caught him holding them before

you keep his drawings of you tucked away somewhere where they cant be damaged

... its not the best bonding activity, but its a nice little moment between the two of you that feels... normal

SPLENDORMAN

he love love loves watching you draw, so when you approached him with this idea hes over the moon! you want to draw him? and you want him to draw you as well? say no more!

hes not insanely skilled, but he doodles here and there! likes using bright colors, so expect his drawing of you to be vibrant! if you let him hes going to add extra stuff such as glitter and stickers! youre not sure where he gets them...

waits patiently for you to finish your drawing, he even does his best to sit as still as possible so you can get a better reference of him

even if its not your best work- in your opinion- hes going to treat it like its the greatest piece of art made by anyone ever

hangs it up on the fridge, and will constantly praise you

is it a little much? ...yes... but damn it hes going to let you know how much he loves it!

MASKY

i like to think that proxies are the ones who create slenders pages, and... well they arent exactly pretty, a lot being just scribbles

doesnt find much enjoyment in drawing, but he may agree to do this with you

now you on the other hand, you like drawing... and its likely masky may pick up on some of the things you do when making it, even if you dont notice him hes somewhere watching you

his drawing of you has the scratchy look a lot of the pages have... but since hes given more time to work on it, it looks a lot nicer than some of the pages even if theres some flaws in the anatomy and all

quietly looks at the drawing youve made of him, he doesnt seem offended by your portray of him so at least you have that going for you!

gently places it on the table, but youre sure hes going to put it in his stash somewhere in the house to keep for later

HOODIE

not much of an artist, and neither are you

generally the interaction is pretty light hearted, even if there isnt much talking between the two of you

very proud of his drawing of you, even if it ends up being a mass of colors that only slightly resemble you- similar to masky, theres a lot of that scratchy black scribbling on his drawing of you

gives you a thumbs up when he receives your drawing of him, he doesnt say anything but thats to be expected from him

tucks it into the back pocket of his pants

TICCI TOBY

he cant draw, but you can... it leads to a.. funny exchange

you put so much time into drawing him how you view him, even if its just a quick colored sketch, its going to look like mona lisa compared to what toby is about to show you

you both poke fun at the skill difference between the two of you, it quickly leads to the both of you needing to take minute in order to catch your breath

hes not interested in art, or improving his skills however hes going to jump at the idea of you offering to teach him some stuff

just to spend time with you, really! there isnt much spare time to do that given his being a proxy thing... likes any excuse to hang around

[esamastation]

hi!!! i just wanted to pop in after reading some of your AC fics (ones where desmond, ezio, and/or altaïr are at the forefront so in this case: i was born for this, terrible two, stone angel, gift of living well, impermanence, three fold, & earthly scene) and say that you're a brilliant writer. as someone who's trying to write longer, more impactful stories, it's admirable how you prioritize the plot and how romance is a sweet part of it. (this is part 1 of this message bc of the word count!)

you construct romance in an original, cathartic way that feels effortless. i just finished 'i was born with this' and the romance that forms between the characters feels so natural and unforced. another thing i love in your fics is that when desmond goes back in time, he always (unintentionally at first) makes an impact in furthering knowledge, inventions, etc centuries ahead of when they were supposed to happen. more importantly, desmond finds his well-deserved happy ending.

your fic ideas are also so creative and out of the box. i'm currently going through the games right now and desmond has been so so much shit (unwillingly) and he deserves some rest and happiness :,) another thing i love is how you always leave a hopeful ending that makes me ache to know what happens after!! you flesh out the characters so much over the span of + 100,000k words, tie things wonderfully at the end, and make me feel out breath (in a good way)

yeah, to sum that up, you're an amazing writer!! i also wanted to ask you some questions about writing. i aspire to write long fics, but i struggle with plotting out events =( i feel like i rush the events in how i want to get to the end where the characters are happy! do you have a writing process? do you plot out your stories or kind of go with the flow? do you have any tips on improving your writing? i totally get if you don't have any advice! have a great day!

-

Thank you for your nice comments, sorry it took so long to reply, I was feeling very antisocial. Anyway.

I do not have a writing process - I'm what they call a gardner writer, I take characters and I put them into situations and see how things develop and plot either happens or it doesn't. Maybe I have vague plans like "here's a scene I want to see in future" and "this is a result I want them to come to" and then try to write towards those goals, but they don't always pan out. It's all very chaotic and leads to lot of dropped fics, but it's how I enjoy writing. (It really helps having someone reading your stuff and poking at the plot holes though, I got a lot of fics that only got as far as they did because nimadge or someone else was there along for the ride.)

I dunno if there's anything other that just practice that can improve a person's writing. Some people recommend writing short stories and flash fiction, some people say your should write X amount of words every day. If all else fails there's thousands YouTube videos on subject.

Personally I'm a huge advocate of taking ideas from other people and putting your own spin into them. Derivate, rehash, put them in a blender, see what comes out. Like, don't copy Lord of the Rings word for word and publish it as your own work, that's bad - but maybe dwarf and elf going on adventures together is a idea that could go places. Fanfiction is all derivation upon pre-existing ideas.

Related, I whole heartedly endorse anyone who wants to take plots and ideas I've written and taking a crack at them with their own style. It's pretty much how I learned to write as wee bab on a typewriter, stealing from the books I enjoyed. And hell, if you don't have a style, try someone else's. One is my most popular fics started with me trying to emulate the style and cadence of narration of a completely unrelated TV series I was watching at the time. I don't think anyone even noticed.

Once you have enough practice under your belt, your style will develop on its own.

[witchywithwhiskey]

okay but will we be getting some fem gloryhole action in the trucker!jake jensen series? 👀 like you know the one where a girl is lying down and just her butt and stuff pokes out of a hole (that was a weird way of describing it lol)

it's so fucking hot. like imagine her just lying there and anyone could walk up and do anything they'd like...

hi nonny i'm glad you're enjoying my trucker jake jensen series!!

i haven't decided yet if we're going to see the reader in that series back in the glory holes. if she does go back, i'd probably write it in a way where it's still mostly about Jake since their relationship is why i like writing that series. (but actually you have given me an idea......gonna keep that one secret for now 🙊)

that said, this is a whole AU with as many chris evans, sebastian stan and henry cavill characters as i want to add and i definitely plan to revisit the glory hole concept, i just haven't figured out how yet. the whole concept is hot but i need characters and a relationship dynamic to interest me in writing something—i think that's why all my fics end up so long 🫣

although now that i'm thinking about it, i have been curious about what kind of reader would work for Ransom, and i maybe have an idea. (18+ content below!!!)

what if you're the daughter of one of Ransom's business associates? what if he has a whole host of clubs—night clubs, whiskey lounges, etc. and Diesel Dolls is his secret pet project that he keeps because he's, of course, a perv.

but you don't know about that side of him. you're a spoiled heiress, with a rich father who's invested in Ransom's night clubs, which means you're an adult who basically parties for a living. and you're a regular at Ransom's night clubs, always getting the vip treatment because of your father, and he's always been so nice to you, just like all your father's business partners.

but one day you learn about Diesel Dolls and you're so curious, you ditch your normal crowd and driver and take a cab to the strip club just off the highway outside of the city.

you're immediately enraptured by the sensual dancers and the low lighting of the club. you've paid for a lap dance and are chatting with the dancer while she straddles you and grinds on you, when Ransom discovers you.

he's furious—he doesn't want your father to find out about his little business, let alone the definitely illegal glory holes in the back room, but you reveal that the dancer told you about the glory holes and you want to see them. or else you'll tell your father.

so Ransom takes you into his office, where there's a bank of monitors on his desk that show a live feed of everything going on in the back room of Diesel Dolls. you're overcome with arousal as you watch one girl with her lower half hanging through a hole in the plywood wall be pounded by a big, filthy trucker.

Ransom presses close to your back, and you're so transfixed by the different views of all kinds of truckers being serviced by the glory hole girls, that you barely notice his fingers toying with the hem of your tight dress until his touch against your thigh makes you shiver.

Ransom mocks you for getting so turned on by the sight of his girls getting railed in his glory holes. he calls you dirty, he calls you filthy, he calls you a slutty little whore who pretends to be a sweet little daddy's girl.

But his words only make you hotter and you lean back against the broad chest of your father's business partner and tell him you know he's jealous, because he wishes you were his daddy's girl.

Ransom chuckles, pretends you're wrong, pretends he could never want a spoiled heiress like you. you're too much of a princess. and you rise to the challenge, telling him you're not too much of a princess to balk at the prospect of getting into one of his glory holes.

Ransom grins, because you've fallen right into his trap. he puts you into a special glory hole—one that isn't open to the public. then Ransom calls all of your father's other business associates and together they ruin you while you're none the wiser about who exactly is fucking you.

but it's a special glory hole for another reason too. he tells you it's because there aren't any cameras, so you can enjoy yourself guilt-free. but really it's because there are tons of cameras, and on the men's side of the wall is a screen with a live feed from a camera placed directly above you. so Ransom and all your father's business parters watch you while they ruin you.

and at the end of the night, Ransom not only reveals all the men who used you—all the men you've known for years and never realized lusted after you—he also reveals the cameras and that they recorded every second of your defilement.

Ransom will use that footage to blackmail you into coming to Diesel Dolls every weekend and repeating the fun they had. and you'll pretend to be furious and betrayed, but a not-so-small part of you is excited about being turned into a free use fuck doll for your father's business partners.

but now i have a question: who are your father's other business partners?

🤭 i'm thinking one might be August Walker. and maybe Steve Kemp and Pete Brenner? 🤔 it can't be anyone i've already introduced into this universe unfortunately 🫤 that would be too hard to keep track of

[in1-nutshell]

Human Buddy's sleepover with Whirl

SFW, platonic, Human reader

MTMTE

To even have a sleepover with Whirl, Buddy needs to be on the top tier bestie list. Meaning it’s going to take time to even bring up the idea. When Buddy does get on Whirl’s good side there is a chance he might say yes.

Mainly because he is trying to be a little less threatening and get so friends thanks to a couple dozen sessions with Rung. The idea of a sleepover probably happened on one of Swerve’s Earth movie nights. There was a scene where Whirl nudges Buddy a bit and asks what the characters were doing on the beds with all the trinkets and stuff. Buddy quickly explains the concept of the sleepover before going back to the movie.

“So, this isn’t some murder coupe in disguise?”--Whirl

“Nope.”--Buddy

“…when are the guns going to come in?”--Whirl

“Whirl there are no guns in this movie.”--Buddy

“Then why am I even here?!”--Whirl

“Because you owe me a favor.”—Buddy

A few days after the movie, one evening, Whirl barges into Buddy’s room with all his sleep things proclaiming that they were going to have a sleepover. Buddy really doesn’t have much room to say anything and just goes with the flow.

“Sleepover time Fleshy!” --Whirl

It was a normal Tuesday evening on the Lost Light anyways.

Buddy introduces sleepover games to Whirl such as spin the Bottle, Truth or Dare and Never have I ever. Whirl takes a liking to Truth or Dare, mainly the Dare part. He knows Buddy can’t do certain things, so he won’t push things too badly.

“C’mon squishy climb the shelves even higher!”--Whirl

“Whirl if I fall and splat on the ground, I will haunt you till the end.”--Buddy

“Bold of you to assume I’d let you got splat on the ground.”--Whirl

“Aww you do care.”--Buddy

“Who else am I going to bother an shake like a rag doll?”--Whirl

“Wow, Whirl, I feel so loved.”--Buddy

“Yeah, yeah keep climbing, you still have another 2 shelves to go fleshy.” --Whirl

Soon enough it’s time to sleep.

Whirl gets a bit unsettled seeing Buddy sleeping a bit. He doesn’t know if slow breathing is a good sign. With what he knows slow breathing leads to no breathing meaning no Buddy.

So, he pokes Buddy from time to time. After the fifth time Buddy manages to find out the answer to Whirl’s poking.

“So, you just sleep? Don’t you need to keep that little pump of yours pumping?”--Whirl

“Yeah, but my body does it on its own.”--Buddy

“But what if it forgets or something?”--Whirl

“Then it’s been nice knowing you.”--Buddy

“…”--Whirl

That leads to a compromise.

Buddy sleeps in Whirl’s cockpit, that way Whirl can feel them, and they can both have a decent amount of sleep. Whirl’s cockpit is fit with tons of blankets and pillows. He doesn’t admit it, but he likes sleeping knowing Buddy is okay. They both sleep well.

When it’s time to wake up Whirl is groggy and just leaves the room thinking it’s his and goes about his day… meanwhile Buddy is still in the cockpit. They do wake up but decide to see where this goes, anyways they need a break from the reports. They had already filed a report saying they were going to take the day off yesterday.

Whirl doesn’t realize Buddy is still in him, Buddy just takes cat naps and plays on their phone from time to time with headphones on. He does realize soon though that Buddy is napping inside, but he can’t bring himself to kick them out… and wants to continue to watch some of the crew wonder where Buddy is at. He’ll tell where they are… eventually.

“Buddy? Have I seen them? Nope haven’t say I’ve seen them Eyebrows, not that I care anyways.”—Whirl to Rung

“Nope haven’t seen the today.”—Whirl to Drift

“What’s in my cockpit? Wouldn’t you like to know.”—Whirl to Cyclonus

For now he is watching chaos unfold slowly.

[galaxythreads]

hi,

I'm fascinated by ur Loki works, and since I'm currently rereading all my favourites I wanted to ask about your general headcanons for Loki, and your opinions on all the movies and appearances Loki had. Basically, could you please talk about Loki, because i feel like my idea of Loki and your idea of Loki are similar. bye!!

"Do you want to rant at me about your favorite character?" I mean. do you want my first born?

general headcanons:

there's this scene in Loki: Where Mischief Lies where Loki has a throwaway line that talks about how it never matters when Thor hits him even if it gets violent and it rotates around in my head like a microwave all the time. Such an interesting concept that Thor took things too far but Loki never said anything because that's Just What Siblings Do TM

Loki's hair is soft to the touch, not greasy, because I will die mad about loki's hair in ragnarok

loki steals clothing. This is something you can see in all my fics, he's constantly stealing things from everyone.

Loki is ace, never had sex, and isn't interested in changing that. I don't think he's aro, I think he is interested in romantic love to some extent, but I think sex is just mid to him

loki's magic pokes at all five senses. It's something you can see, taste, hear, touch, and smell

loki got "food poisoning" a lot as a kid because his body was made for jotun stuff and like. asgard doesn't have that

Loki has a moral code, and there are lines he won't cross

loki doesn't lie that much, people just gave him the name because he's shifty and it was a rumor that was started by thor that he lies all the time

loki and thor's relationship has only gotten more complicated as they've gotten older and they have the brain chemistry to process things better, look at their childhoods and go, uh, bro, wait a minute

frigga wasn't a very good mom to loki, even though she tried

Loki can cook

loki uses magic less now that he's older, not because he's not good at it, but because he just like. he uses more subtle magic, and he doesn't need to turn his magic into a glowy show when he could just punch you in the face

loki is a man of few words

loki being captured and watching him lose his mind is straw that broke the camel's back for Gamora, who left shortly after he agreed to help thanos

loki wasn't mind controlled per se in the first avengers, the scepter was just affecting his feelings, but not more than anyone else? Loki was just genuinely tortured/coerced into this by thanos and they didn't have to force him to do anything. he was too terrified to say no. scepter was just an added bonus to cement the control

loki absolutely has permanent spinal damage from his time with thanos

I have a bazillion of these i could literally go on for ages.

---

thoughts on movies:

Uh. Okay. um. How do I say this without getting slain? I...do not think, objectively, that any of the Thor movies are good movies. I think they have fantastic concepts, and wonderful characters, and I adore poking at them, but I think one of the reasons that they're so beloved is because of their potential not because of what they are. People love thinking about what could have been and what they wished happened, because there's very little that's actually satisfyingly completed about the films.

Because the Thor movies are not...It. You kind of have to go hunting for outside material for pieces to be connected together and thor 2 has lots of issues that not even thor 1 could have dreamed of, and Thor 1 is just. A disaster, narratively. I think Thor 3 is definetly the most well put together movie, which sucks because it's the one that botched the characters beyond repair. You either have good characters and awful story or fantastic story and terrible characters with no inbetween.

Trying to talk about why I don't think the movies are good - objectively, as movies - has never ended super well for me, but yeah, i just. I don't. I don't think they're very good. I can break it down in more detail if anyone is interested, but there seems to exist two opinions on tumblr: you either think thor 1 - tdw is an untouchable master piece or you don't and there's nothing good to say about them at all.

I have endless praise to give the movies, but that doesn't mean I don't have criticisms, because, good lord, they suck in some places. Loki's character arc is the most baffling mishandle of a character that I have ever witnessed, and yes, I mean this from the get go. Connecting thor 1 - thor 2 takes some mental math.

Thor 1: Interesting set-up for Loki's character, I like how careful they are with setting him up to make sure that his arc was clear and the line between victim and villain was really blurred. They did a good job on making him sympathetic, and revealing an interesting concept with him and Thor, even if I don't think it was executed as well as I wanted.

Avengers 1: adore poking at Loki and Thanos's relationship here. I cannot get enough of it. I like writing with the avengers mostly because of all that didn't happen in the movie that I wished had. There's so many narrative secrets that don't get addressed or glossed over and I just want it picked apart

Thor 2: i enjoy seeing Loki and Thor working together, Loki's deteriorating mental stay in prison is always fascinating, and generally tdw is my favorite movie and portrayal of loki. It's what I usually base all my fics off of is how he acts in this movie. 10/10, will sing praises

thor 3: my loathing for this movie has shriveled considerably since i saw it the first time, but i'd still be hardpressed to say i liked anything they did with loki's character. Loki is self-sabatoging constantly, and his character makes no sense whatsoever. he is the village idiot, and like, i'm not really into that.

Infinity War: Honestly, i'm just gonna say it - i really did like what they did with loki in this movie. Like yeah, I wanted him to help and be an important part of the story, yeah, of course, but I also appreciate from a writing perspective what a powerful move killing him off before the credits was. Loki was the Big Bad of the first avengers and murdering him set the stakes amazingly. It carried Thor's entire arc, and it felt like a shroud that was layered over the movie. I know a lot of people didn't like it, but I appreciated what they did with it, and I like the tragedy.

---

Appearance:

not a single scene in ragnarok with him it it did not make me want to chew off my foot, his character design was awful. I will never understand why everyone was drooling over the black suit, it looked like it was bought from walmart and then the wrinkles smoothed out with a flat iron. His hair is greasy af for no reason, all of his clothing looks cheap and ugly. there's nothing impressive or visually interesting about him. the choice to remove his colors so hela can take them will never not be annoying to me even though hela is my baby child

thor 1 has the best hair, in my opinion, but he also looks stupid as hell in his armor. loki's design, to me, works best when it has long lines and it's flowy and/or soft. visually nice:

and like the reason it's visually nice is because it's soft and doesn't make me notice tom hiddleston's hips. The moment i'm aware of his hips i get irritated as hell about it, because idk man, loki just. he does not look good when you're aware he has hips. tom hiddleston is like fine, somehow? i don't know why it doesn't bother me when he's wearing whatever he wants to - i also just like. do not care - but with loki i'm just like. oh good LORD stop making me aware of your hips.

It's why i can't stand his ragnarok suit but would sing praises over the thor 1 one.

It's something that's just like. confounded me forever, because i don't even know why it bugs me so much, but every time i see his TVA outfit, thor 1 armor, or that stupid ragnarok suit i want to shoot a canon ball into the sun.

Give the man a suit coat or do not put him in a jacket. loki has lots of skills but pulling off a jacket is not one of them.

He needs to look haunted, like, in general. Or like an 18th century tired man. it's integral for his character to me.

things that make galaxy happy:

loki soft hair

loki having suit coat or suit coat equivalent

things that will send her into a ranting, unwanted, nitpicky rage

loki greasy hair

loki dressed in jackets

[a-whispering-echo]

hello. below is me rambling about my new au - the ancient city one - and what i have down for it all right now. its just me rambling, and i tend to talk like im actually TELLING people about my ideas? like im sitting across from someone explaining it, and i try to imagine im speaking to someone who knows nothing about the sanses to try and like, GRIP the characters right, yknow? so yeah - lol

uh gore warning ig? its only descriptions for now, but i WILL be drawing them at some point!

oh yeah its bsp too lol

Story starts with Cross, who was disowned by his father after the death of his brother, which happened slightly after a very large argument between Cross and said brother. this is set in an old-ish setting. not quite modern day, not quite old timey. more fantasy set time - anyway yeah, Cross gets kicked out and shamed . oh hes human too here, you'll see later-

Cross is supposed to read as slightly unlikable, not fully, but with enough character flaws to balance out his good traits. Hes cold, very ambitious, but quite selfish too. he finds it hard to put himself in others shoes, and is focused, at first, in his own self interest. at the same time, he can be incredibly sweet, and self sacrificing when he wants to be. a hero truly. hes adaptable, and strong willed, even if he can sometimes break down in an anxious mess.

Cus Cross has been disowned, he decides to set out on his own path, alone, with not much on his other than his own survival skills - as all men from his town are trained for war and go through mandatory service, as he decides to treck and explore the world, figuring maybe, if he was luckily, he'd find a NEW home and family..

Eventually, one night, Cross is attacked by wolved while out setting up camp for the night. they destroy everything he'd worked for, and would him near fatally,

One of the wolves got a bit to his head, biting right into his right eye, leaving an awful bite mark over it that forces his eye shut forever. he isnt TECNICALLY blind, but he cant really open it without massive pain, ( it will eventually get infected and need to be removed. but thats WAYY in the future.)

Cross in his mad bid for safety, managed to scale a slight cliff edge, and find a very tight cave on a said cliff edge, managing to climb up over this ledge covered in lichen and algae, and sneaking into the gap that the wolves cannot reach. unfortunately, Cross wasnt expecting the drop.

When Cross wakes up, hes in what can only be described as the ruins of an old settlement, a… city? he thinks? the stone buildings are all destroyed, looking like a bomb has gone off through it, the stone in rubble, but miraculously, there are these glowing blue lanterns handing off posts that make up bridges connecting the little 'islands' of rubble to another in a pattern, those lanterns dim, but glowing faintly enough he can see his way… hes lying in a small pond, or a well or somthing, glowing blue algae covering the water, and HIM by extension, the water cold and soaking him to the bone.

What the hell happened here?

its as Cross is trying to right himself and fugure out where the HELL he is that he sees three figure in the distance...

They move, they walk, but theyre… theyre skeletons...

.... mostly. a couple of them look like they have a LITTLE flesh covering them, but its all mouldy and rotten. theres three of them, and all of them are dressed in dark robes, and covered in that ALGAE-lichen stuff, all that glowing cyan and black colour, spreading over their limbs like a plague. they seem all slightly confused on Cross entering their domain, the shortest one looks at his suspiciously under their cowl, and the tallest, with his awful head wound, pokes and prods at Cross and his broken body with fascination. the other one, with pitch black oozing eye sockets, seems FACINATED with him, excited even, theyre rubbing up against Cross like a cat and getting that black/cyan stuff all over him, Cross to scared and in pain to push it away from him

are they… inhabitants of the past settlement, maybe?

Turns out they can, mostly, speak english. they speak with an accent like no other, one Cross cant place, and use what Cross can only describe as odd and outdated words sometimes, but they seem to be able to understand him, at least. and they understand hes hurt, and needs help..

theyre kinda… well, theyre creepy as shit, no doubt bout it, but theyre not… TRYING to be? theyre curious and weird and a bit gross, but theyre almost CAT like? they purr, they nuzzle, they even fucking SNIFF him at first, and dunk his head under the water when they find his scent distressing. - thats Killer to note - they have fucking TAILS - he sees them when Goopy turns to chirp at his friends-

theyre in different states of decay… though the flesh they DO have is little, and covered by that lichen stuff holding it to their bones like stitches, theyre not ACTIVLY rotting anymore? nor do they really smell?

The smallest one seems to speak for them, not really out of any leadership, but because Goopy doesnt seem to really understand, and Head Wound seems to only make rumbling chirping noises - they ALL make those noises, but… Scarf seems to understand him best, even it they CLEARLY dont trust Cross…

they work for their Master, and lover, a Creature named Nightmare. a being made from that black/cyan stuff, and the one who destroyed this previous kingdom entirely, killing all residents

well all, bar three? are.. well, are they dead or..?

Killer mostly moves on all fours, close to the ground, almost like a spider. he CAN stand upright, but its painful for him, and hes quicker lower to the floor. Dust is the shortest and has these glowing red spots that act like pupils in his eyes, one of them corrupted by the cyan stuff. Horror has an actual EYEBALL still in his left socket - the side with the big wound - while the other is empty. Dust is the least 'decomposed' and still has slight bits of pale tinged-purple-blue skin held to his bones with the algae stuff, but he seems to try and hide it under his layers of clothes. both Killer and Horror have claws, while Dust has his filled down and softer, though still SHARP! Killer is much more intelligent than he appears.

all three of the skeletons used to be human! theyre of a different race to any Cross would know, and mostly lived in caves and hollowed out mountains - theyre usually small people - Horror being what the kingdom would call 'a giant', with a range of skin tones but most being a soft brown, and hair that stems from black to dark red and oranges - they mostly all have dark eyes better suited to dark environment, and good senses

Dust is the most 'intelligent' of the three, seemingly knowing an array of languages and seems to know how to heal. Killer has spikes and bone shards and teeth sticking from his clothes and has a dagger attached to his belt - maybe some kind of warrior? Horror carries a spear with him that he leans on as he walks. he seems to be able to walk fine without it, but uses it almost as a cane - maybe a pain condition over physically not being able to move? with the head wound.. well, does that even MATTER anymore?

Anyways, yeah, noot noot-

Nightmare used to be a spirit of protecting for the city, until a disagreement with his Other Half, quite literally, his twin brother Dream - two beings born of the same soul, which caused Nightmare to corrupt.

Nightmare doesnt show up until at LEAST halfway through the story!

this story will eventually conclude with Cross joining them, and them all falling in love, Cross getting the answers he wants about them, and getting his FAMILY that he desperately craves.

im still working on this obs, but im gonna be doing some drawings of them not lol - obviously theres gonna be a bit of a gore warning -

[ambrosiagourmet]

I notice no one has asked yet so for the character thing: laios! Or if you want to go for a less common one: the winged lion

Laios!!!!!!

First impression

Honestly its hard to even limit this within the confines of starting the actual manga. I genuinely think I'd have to say my real first impression of Laios was the "autism be damned, my boy can work a grill" joke that gets passed around a lot 😭

Impression now

Older brother.

Loves his friends and family so much. Let him infodump!!!!! A guy that can character arc so hard he becomes a king because its the only way to deal with the things he can no longer let himself look away from. A guy who wants to eat a good meal. A guy who wants everyone to eat a good meal.

A guy who can be all that and still kind of pettily complain that he doesn't get to hang out with monsters anymore & can mope about it soooo annoyingly. A guy who decided to eat the concept of all-consuming hunger because it was the only way to deal with the problem so he might as well try. A guy who can completely change his life by deciding to share his special interest. A guy who can imitate a dog really well.

Favorite moment

Don't make me choooose... okay I'm gonna do three:

1. Assembling Falin's bones with Marcille

The humor. The patience. The slow realization that, despite how absurd of a task it is, it is actually all possible. The moments of admiration for the way skeletons work, the love of the details, the care of assembling all three skeletons just to make sure they get Falin right. Iconic scene.

2. Killing Falin

"Unable to make myself accept. Unable to make myself resist" lives in my soul now idk what else to say. Life is so vibrant and horrifying and raw and beautiful and to let yourself fully be a part of it you must take up space. You must consume. You must fight. You must take and be taken from. Ourgh

3. Talking Marcille down

I love that he looks so goofy on his way up to her. I love the context of how much he refuses to give up on her leading up to this, and how he refuses to give up on her now. I love how everyone is part of this scene, but he's the first one to cross the threshold. I love how she almost blows him up but can't do it (fun fact: this exact situation/post was how she killed Mithrun a couple of chapters ago. It was close).

I love the way he appeals to her mostly just with messy honesty, and I love the silly three rules callback. It's such a sweet chapter.

Also honorary mention for the final page of the story, which gets me every time.

Idea for a story

I'm actually currently fiddling with a longer story concept dealing with the question of Laios needing an heir. Dungeon Meshi is grounded enough in politics that it genuinely feels like a question that the characters will have to grapple with at some point. At the same time, there's no way that like arranged marriage and even having kids in general are not messy topics for Laios and I don't think anyone involved would want to force him to be miserable.

(I also don't personally like the idea of Falin as his heir ftr, bc I think forcing Falin into that role sucks and I don't think anyone would go for it)

So how DO they deal with the issue? Idk! I might write a long meandering story about it! Maybe! I want to, at least.

Unpopular opinion

Ughhhh I don't realllly want to poke this with a stick but yeah I definitely think my most generic (apparently????) Unpopular Opinion with Laios is just that his relationship with Marcille is meaningful and loving. I personally don't view it as romantic and they mean a lot to me as a platonic-life-partners kind of thing, but I also think that dividing relationships in general into Ships TM and Definitely Not Ships isn't really appealing to me personally. I just care them.

(at the same time I really do worry about trying to write about them and it being taken as romantic despite me very intentionally not framing it as such. idk, navigating this stuff is complicated.)

Favorite relationship

UGHHHH LIKE. It is probably him and Marcille. But it's so hard to rank that against him and Falin. Both relationships mean a lot to me and I love them and I love to think about them.

Because him and Marcille have more on the page interactions to dig into and because I don't see them discussed as much, I do tend to gravitate to Marcille & Laios stuff above all else. But like.... don't make me actually commit to picking.

Favorite headcanon

I can't think of a strong answer for this so I'm going to make one up on the spot: I think he giggled to himself soooo much when he included the winged lion in his king outfit but made it so that it looks like the wolf head is eating it. I think he continues to giggle about it years later. I think he gets dressed in the morning and puts on his cloak and goes "get ate, idiot" as he fastens it around his shoulders.

Oh actually for a more genuine headcanon related to the story thing I mentioned above: I think Laios is really good with kids but would be scared of having any of his own. I think he'd have trouble with the classic "I don't want to mess them up the way my dad messed me up" abused kid struggle.

[thoughtswithbbg]

Chapter 2

You woke up to something poking your face as it was saying some words to you that you couldn’t quite make out. Your vision finally adjusted as you looked at Gojo, who was poking all around your face. “Wake uppppp, I’m hungryyyyyyy.” He whined constantly and you picked him up by his tiny shirt and sat him on the bedside table as you sat up and stretched. 

      “Shut up Gojo, i’m tired..” You forced yourself out of bed and heard a whistle behind you. You had only worn one of your Jujutsu Kaisen shirts to bed, underwear too and they were just barely visible. Your panties were light blue, and the shirt you wore had Gojo on the back. 

      “Look at you, i love-“ Your face flushed as you shouted a quick ‘shut up’ to interrupt his sentence. you grabbed some pants and walked to the bathroom to do your morning skin routine, brush your teeth and your hair, and put on some deodorant. Gojo followed you of course, how you have no idea, He still had all his powers so you assumed he just teleported to you. His existence was still so surreal for you. “I can’t believe we all have merch..” you chuckled at his words, and smiled down at where he sat on the counter.

      “I have way more stuff than just this, tee shirts, pjs pants, underwear-“ You froze when Gojo looked at you with a growing smirk on his face. You rolled your eyes and  just shrugged it off and decided to head to the kitchen to fix the breakfast that he had to wake you up for. You were still pissed at him about that.

     “what do you want for breakfast? Are you sure you can even eat a full sized meal?” He shrugged at your question but he knew he had a bottomless pit for a stomach. You sighed and began to make some scrambled eggs and bacon. He sat on the counter and watched you cook, he still couldn’t believe there were no curses in your world, it was kind of….peaceful? If only Suguru and Shoko could be here too, then it would be perfect.

      “Say, (y/n), do you think other characters will be here too?” It felt bitter for him to say ‘characters’ instead of friends or students, but that’s what you were used to so he figured he would say that as well. You hummed in response, considering his question with some thought. 

      “I’m not sure Sato- Gojo,” You had to correct yourself, he wasn’t really comfortable around you yet. “I hope so, for your sake..” You gave him a friendly smile and reached into your cabinets to get him and yourself a plate for the breakfast.

      “don’t you wanna meet your favorite characters?” It was a reasonable question for him to ask and you had to think about your answer. Yes, you would love to meet your favorite characters but now you realized that they were people too and they had lives, so you couldn’t really be selfish.

       “as amazing as that would be,  i would rather you all be happy, than to fill my desires of seeing you all in person. It’s a dream, but it’s also a delusion.” Gojo thought about your words as he munched on a piece of bacon. Your words meant something to him, that you weren’t selfish and wouldn’t keep him here if he had the option to go home.

       You were surprised that Gojo finished his entire plate of food, but you suppose the fact that his appetite wasn’t affected by his size was a good thing. You began to wash the dishes as he grabbed some more of your (f/c). 

      “so, (y/n),” Gojo spoke up after he ate some candy and you finished the dishes. You glanced over at him from your place on the couch, he was sitting on the top part of it, looking bored out of his mind. “I’m bored, do you have something we can watch?” He was practically whining and it’s more annoying than you thought it would be. You thought he would be different than how people describe him in fanfiction but no, he’s 100% on character. And it’s annoying. 

      “umm, we can watch anime?” You watch his face cohort in disgust, he was definitely opposed to that idea. You had no idea what he expected of you. You rolled your eyes and continued to read on your kendal that your younger brother Franklin got you for Christmas. You had all sorts of books on there and though it wasn’t as good as reading a real book, it was still nice. 

     Before he could ask what you were reading, the doorbell to your apartment rang and you looked confused before you glanced at Gojo with a knowing look. You didn’t order anything and you weren’t expecting anyone, so it could be another sorcerer, but you didn’t wanna get your hopes up. That would suck for both you and Gojo. 

     You went to open the door and glanced around when you saw no one, you looked down and saw a tiny box like before. You hurriedly took it inside and locked the door back behind you. Gojo floated towards you, you still don’t understand why or how he does that but that wasn’t the point right now. The box wiggled a bit as you sat it down and went to get the box opener. 

     When you came back, you could see Gojo staring intensely at the box as you began to open it. The sorcerer inside came out with a gasp, he was looking around hastily and Gojo couldn’t even believe who he was looking at. Neither could you. 

     “Suguru.?” The little version of the curse user in his monk robes looked at the white-haired man with a shocked look. Last he remembered, Satoru had just killed him. Now he was in some strangers dining room, small and unable to do much, with his ex best friend right next to him. 

    “Satoru..” You stepped out of the room to let them have their moment, you figured they needed to talk and you weren’t gonna get in the way of that. Instead, you focused on looking on amazon to find clothes to fit the tiny sorcerers on your couch. 

     Gojo flung himself into tiny Geto’s arms and they hugged each other tightly. Gojo gripped his robe hard, he never wanted to let him go, not again, not ever. Expecially since he saw Kenjaku in Geto’s body, he never thought he would see his actual best friend again. 

     Geto felt the same, he felt like he should’ve never left Satoru in front of that KFC, if he had just communicated his feelings, none of that would’ve happened. But he’s just happy to see his best friend again. That’s all that matters to him. Satoru pulled back from the hug and ran his fingers across Suguru’s forehead, as if double checking it was still him.  “I missed you, so much…” The words left his lips with out him even thinking about it. When he realized what he said, his face flushed and he buried his head into Suguru’s neck as the latter laughed at him. Who knew the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer could show such emotion?

     “I missed you too, Satoru..” Gojo pulled back from the comfort of his “best friend” and looked all around the dark haired males face before settling his gaze on his lips. Geto stared right back at Satoru, looking all over before settling on Gojo’s own lips. They stared for a good long minute before Gojo crashed his lips into the others. The kiss was rough but loving, they didn’t even know what they were doing. If Shoko was here now, she would make so much fun of them. 

      A tingling sensation rose in both of them and they pulled away from their borderline make out session. They looked around as their bodies began to glow, and before they knew it, their vision became white and they couldn’t see each other anymore.

      A loud crashing noise caused you to rush towards the dining room where you let out a screech of panic. “MY TABLE! WHAT THE FUCK!?” You were too worried about your dining room table to even notice the now full sized Gojo Satoru and Suguru Geto. They weren’t tiny anymore, no they were their original size. They were looking at each other in shock, before looking at you. You were mourning the loss of your dining room table, you didn’t have enough cash to replace it and you had spent a lot of money to buy it in the first place.

      “Gojo! I can’t believe you broke the table! why the fu-“ You were about to cuss him out before you looked in over at him and then stopped. You had to look up to meet both of their eyes, a bright red blush settling on your face as you couldn’t even believe your eyes. They were back to normal. And you now had two grown men possibly living in your apartment with you.

     “oh my god….”

[tater-tot-jr]

Yapping time! Spoilers for DRDT C2E14

So the entire episode was great, but there’s one part I’d like to talk about most. David’s monologue towards the end. Specifically the second half, where he gets away from his logical stuff and into the more interpersonal stuff. I’ll break it down line by line.

“All I want is for Teruko to distrust others.”

Okay we are starting off interesting. Now, due to David’s nature we can’t trust him to be honest. We cannot take this as explicit confirmation of any sort of goal. With that said, his goal appears to be fucking up the class trial in some manner. We don’t know his motive, but that goal seems consistent enough to work with. So let’s work with it. Teruko is literally one half of this classes helpful trial participants. Her and Charles are the entire brain of this class. Charles can be killed, he has a glaring flaw in a debilitating fear of blood, he’s easy enough to deal with when the time comes. Teruko is stupidly resilient. To everything. The one thing she obviously struggles with is her trust issues/paranoia. If you’re looking to get under her skin that’s where you gotta go. Saying this is a clear demonstration he intends to poke at Teruko emotionally, which is an interesting thing to admit out loud. If I had to guess, it’s because he’s trying to kill two birds with one stone and make the class start to distrust Teruko as well.

“That’s why I’m doing this, telling such obvious lies.”

This is him saying he’s lying about seeing the body, I think. He’s doubling down on inciting paranoia, in both Teruko and the class. It’s interesting he would say this out loud. He’s hyper focused on fucking with Teruko and it shows. If you take out the brain, the body goes as well. It’s certainly a strategy of all time.

“There is no other proof of Eden’s innocence.”

As far as we know, this is a true statement right now. Unless I’m unaware of something that was the biggest piece of evidence meant to clear her name, and he brought it into question.

“As long as there’s a possibility that the evidence is false, as long as there’s even the slightest reason to distrust others, then Teruko cannot trust Eden.”

Oof, he’s got her dead to rights. I don’t think there’s a good faith argument for him being wrong. It’s cool to see how much he understands the cast. It’s an interesting way to show how Teruko’s thoughts process works without betraying her guarded nature. Having a character so ready to pick at her weakness is a good writing choice, and I hope they keep David around for a time. Teruko is the least trusting character I’ve ever seen in any fangan game, granted I haven’t played them all but still. There’s a chance the story doesn’t have any sort of lesson, and we’re just gonna watch Teruko suffer. The idea that she can’t bring herself to trust if there’s even a 0.001% chance of something being false is such a good character flaw. She’s clearly terrified of risk, and she doesn’t know how to get rid of her paranoia, even though I think she wants to.

“Isn’t that right, Teruko?”

Ohohoho you smug piece of shit. You fucking dick. This is more proof he’s not just saying these things in an objective way. He’s just trying to hurt her, as far as we can assume.

“…”

Yeah she’s fucking rocked. Teruko really doesn’t take things lying down. Befitting of her backstory, she���s the type to struggle and fight back against anything she can. But here she has nothing to say. David has read her for filth and they both know it. Now that I think about it, this probably also plays on her fear of being vulnerable. What could possibly be more vulnerable than someone telling you your own exact thought process?

“It’s in your nature to distrust people.”

This is a more interesting statement than it appears at first glance. Specifically because he says it’s in her nature. To him, this isn’t a choice she’s making because of the killing game. It’s not circumstance that has pushed her into this. No, this is who she is, and this is who she’ll always be. Which is a horribly insulting thing to say, because it’s within most humans nature to trust each other somewhat, and it’s life circumstances that push them away from collaboration. He’s saying that Teruko is so fucked in the head that she’s fundamentally different from the standard human baseline.

“Everyone you know has already betrayed you. There’s no one in this world who won’t hurt you. Even the people you love will turn their backs on you in the end. You know that well enough, don’t you?”

…Jesus Christ. He really is just the devil on her shoulder. These are her worst thoughts said out loud and back to her. Do you think she considers someone dying on her and leaving her alone a betrayal? Is that a part of this? Him saying “even the people you love” is interesting, does she really even have anyone she loves in the cast? Or does she just tolerate them. He’s making grand, sweeping statements about her life potentially before the killing game and hitting the nail on the head every time. An impressive feat of manipulation and perceptiveness.

“So distrust in others. Because that’s the only way you know how to live.”

Ow. Ouch. Owie. Not only is this a banger way to end the monologue but it’s just so telling. Teruko doesn’t even say anything in response she just waits for Charles to change to subject. Also, is he even really wrong? She tried to afford people trust and then she got stabbed and everyone else blamed her. She’s definitely swung too far the other way, but it’s not like she was good at knowing how much trust to afford people. This life is really the only way she knows how to live. How things are now, she’ll suffer any other way. It’s such juicy character writing. Damned if you do damned if you don’t. David has definitely been watching Teruko’s behavior, and quite frankly he has her figured out. He’s perceived her, and she hates it. I think we all know Teruko is lonely, she deeply wants people around her. But between being a danger to them and all her trust issues she shuts herself away. David is doing everything he can to keep her as far away from forming meaningful connections as possible. He’s clearly got some sort of plan.

—

There’s also a few things I want to talk about that I didn’t have the ability to put under a spoken line, so I’ll yap down here.

Firstly, Teruko extending some “trust” to Eden doesn’t prove David wrong. If anything, it strengthens his argument. Looking at the actual content of Teruko and Eden’s back and forth, it’s barely a scrap of trust and it’s completely conditional. Teruko basically said “because you helped me last trial I will trust you enough to investigate you second” which is still incredible progress for her, but it’s nothing close to genuine trust. This is not to diminish the progress Teruko made in that scene, but it’s nothing close to countering David’s claims.

Secondly, THAT VOICE ACTING HELLO?!?? David’s VA has always been great, but combined with DRDTdev’s wonderful writing and sprite design/choices he really brought this scene to life. He was perfectly smug and condescending. He had a voice that really portrayed that “I’m 100% right about you and you can’t do anything about it” vibe. Just a total piece of shit. 10/10 would listen again.

[you-can-be-what-you-want-to-be]

People aren't mad because John/Arthur aren't canon, people are mad because the creator made fun of the fans that ship them in the Christmas special

I see… the post has been deleted

I’m just very used to being in bad fandoms where something as small as “I don’t ship them personally” is taken as a homophobic statement, and people have been saying forever if it’s not canon it’ll be queer bait, so I assumed which I maybe shouldn’t have done but with it coinciding with the “John is a child episode” it just made sense

now, I do have to say though, that while I don’t know a whole lot because I’m not on the Patreon, I was for awhile. Again take this with a HEAPING load of salt for that reason since I clearly don’t know the specific situation. Everything I’m going to say I will try to say from an objective viewpoint since I don’t know the situation and will only focus on the facts I do know.

But how is this new? For the karaoke creep special they keep calling it weird to call each other romantic terms. And when Arthur died by not sacrificing the little guy last season Harlan was ROUGH. He said anyone who voted to not sacrifice were children smashing dolls together, that they forgot the story they were in and hopefully this punishment would remind them that actions have consequences. He basically said this is your fault for being stupid. He ended up having to post a semi apology saying it’s eldritch horror story, it’s supposed to be about harshness and not knowing the consequences before hand, and that he teases his audience and that if they don’t like that this isn’t the right show for them. His phobia play through he did a bit as Arthur and John where he was like “and we are NOT doing anything in the shower no matter what the fan fictions say” “let them dream John”

I also would like to mention that word of god should be ignored in these stories and that Harlan does NOT have a PR team. Again I don’t know the situation. I don’t know if he was ad libing live, in which case he should be given more Lee way as self editing in the moment is hard, I don’t know how if he said the most vile stuff alive, or if he said something a little mean but harmless like the “no we are not doing this” “let them dream” or what. Maybe it is bad and he deserves to be roasted, idk.But making jokes about a non canon thing can be a normal thing, especially if it’s a thing people keep bugging you about.

I do know that fandom as a whole has a problem attacking people over though, being someone who frequently got called homophobic for headcanoning single characters as aro, this one specifically has already harassed him about this ship which I’m sure gets annoying, and that he has explicitly said he will poke fun on the Patreon, and that he has said Jarthur won’t happen, and that he is one guy without the means to sort through hate mail removed from situations and doesn’t have a PR team to tell him “hey this off the cuff joke is a bad idea”

all that being said, again I do not know what he said specifically. I think either way a lot of people need to reassess if this is the fandom for them. I’ve seen a lot of people only get into the show for shipping and then get mad when there’s eldritch horror and the attitudes of eldritch horror in the eldritch horror podcast. If he said something that bad then maybe consider getting out since he writes about delicate subjects and it will only get worse. If what he said wasn’t that bad and people are getting mad about being lightly teased but it wasn’t confrontational or homophobic, they might want to leave because that’s just what Harlan does, tease people, and it’s not new and will continue, especially about non canon stuff in his own work. And if you got into and are only staying for the shipping…. Yeah. If that’s the only thing you want maybe it’s time to move on.

and if you decide to stay, know that. Know and be warned ahead of time that you will be teased so it isn’t a surprise next time

edit: so I did get the full context quote and it’s literally just “we want to hang out together alone for Christmas” “platonically, as in canon” “oh of course of course.” This. This isn’t bullying. It’s a little tongue in cheek sure but the whole thing is just saying it isn’t canon. I’ve heard complaints on comments on this post about other stuff he’s done, which I don’t know much about but is also applicable. I did my best to say “either way, this is stuff related.” As someone who writes and has written things before where every single chapter people kept pushing for something I wasn’t going to write I get it. I’m not saying anything he might have done is right but I think it’s understandable at the very least, for a writer to be upset about his stuff being constantly misinterpreted and having fans try to push it where he doesn’t want it.

him reminding people it won’t happen is fine, especially when people keep accusing him of queer baiting. I still think what I said earlier stands even hearing other opinions, because although I can’t say either way, it seems like everyone who is upset says this is a repeated behavior, and if you stay you can’t be surprised by it every time. If it’s going to bug you you have to either be prepared for it to keep happening or leave.

That isn’t to say no one can be upset about anything else but this specific thing I don’t think is worthy of that. All he did was jokingly repeat canon in character (which is much better than like. Someone who keeps hinting at something and never giving it) in a teasing manner. He didn’t say anything negative about shippers, or anything homophobic, just said “hey remember kids, we aren’t into each other like that.” Which is. Fine. It’s annoying but it isn’t malicious.

If the issue is mods or his interactions with people say that. Don’t make it about him light heartedly going “don’t accuse me of queerbaiting.” it makes it so when actual issues like what people are talking about in the comments (if they’re legit, again I try to stay only in the actual content part and abstain from knowing about creators) come up no one takes them seriously because so many molehills were mountained.

If you’re pissed about how he talks to his fans say that, don’t make it about a lack of queer rep when he said day one there wouldn’t be any. Make it about the issue itself. You don’t mention that someone’s a domestic abuser for example after you say “and they have NO CHEESE in their house thats MONSTROUS who does that.” If you want to be taken seriously about a problem you focus on the thing that matters which is. Hurting people.

I guess at the end of the day I’m no one’s boss, but I am tired of not knowing what to believe or not when someone saying something like “no comment” on if characters they wrote are together is homophobia, or a character who’s been Described as a dick acting like one and then the creator gets accused of being shitty (random examples not to do with this specific fandom). If everything is a big deal that makes someone the worst when the subject is not actually hurting anyone… it’s exhausting. Idk anything about Harlan. At the end of the day I’m here for my little horror stories. But I will say definitively that I don’t think it’s bullying to say a ship is not canon and that to act like it is makes it impossible for people who actually care about morals and what someone is doing to keep the energy to stay that way without becoming part of a mob just taking people at their word.

If it upset you I’m sorry, it’s always disappointing when our take on media is dismissed, especially by the creator. And it’s fine to be disappointed. I get that. But don’t blow it out of proportion, and don’t make it about something it isn’t. If you’re upset about the quote say that it’s disappointing without saying it’s punching down. The author is dead and it’s one of the biggest podcast ships out there. If you’re upset about anything else make a post about that issue without tying it to this fun bonus non canon episode. You are allowed to be upset just and if it is about shipping: stop making someone disagreeing with you about a ship a big controversy. You can ship whatever you want regardless of canon and no one is trying to stop jarthur shippers, and if it isn’t about that stop making things about shipping if that’s not what it’s actually about.

[blueikeproductions]

An update on the Transformers CyberWorld situation.

Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s the next cartoon as a new copyright notice on Hasbro’s part includes animated series.

So we’re moving on from EarthSpark. A well intentioned successor to Rescue Bots aimed older that … just didn’t stick the landing for many reasons (no Nightshade being Enby isn’t one of them, but among certain groups it didn’t exactly help either…).

So what can we expect going forward.

Honestly I think we’re in the middle of a shift, creatively.

Cyberverse & EarthSpark clung to a lot of IDW centric ideas about how the Autobots are shady & the Decepticons are the actual heroes.

Skybound and TFONE are to be returning to traditional Heroic Autobots and Evil Decepticons. Starscream & Shockwave are absolutely psychotic, Soundwave is more professional in an ends justify the means capacity, and Skybound Optimus being praised for a much needed return to the strong enough to be gentle vs the introverted millenial/Gen Z kid most stuff lately has cast him in. And just by official trailers and snippets alone, ONE’s fixed a huge problem with the cast system thing started by Aligned, by making future Autobots into the oppressed miners and from what we can tell, the future Decepticons being among those who either benefited from the system or joined Starscream’s splinter faction, a faction that likely has no benefits to Cybertron as a whole.

It does feel like there’s a bit of course correcting to go with a more traditional route most casuals expect. Even a recent toyetic promo for ONE where the actors play with the toys with some football players, among them is the one who calls himself Megatron, & the players express mild skepticism on an origin story, when they all know Optimus & Megatron are mortal enemies so why bother having them be friends previously or some such. I can always appreciate when a studio expresses self awareness and happily pokes fun at itself.

It also feels like they’ve realized they’ve both overexposed certain characters and also realized certain characters don’t work.

I think RotB and Skybound’s willingness to kill off Bumblebee shows even Hasbro might be sick of him now. His absence so far in early CyberWorld leaks seem to point in this direction too. A recent promotion and opening animation with Squad Busters doesn’t have Bee, but instead uses Elita. It also keeps Megatron and the Decepticons as the villains.

I don’t think Bee is going away, since he’s a major component of TFONE, Reactivate (whenever that sucker comes out), and that separate racing (?) game thing, but outside of EarthSpark, it does feels like they’re trying to move away from him a little. Cyberverse also sticks out as it’s pretty clear the writers wanted nothing to do with Bee after S1, but Hasbro marketing and rebranding made Bumblebee a huge focus, confusing matters, as despite the rebranding, Bee’s role had greatly diminished. (Like realistically, it should’ve been Bumblebee leading the Autobots during the Quint occupation, not Hot Rod if Hasbro was that insistent about it.)

Elita is also an interesting change. For years, Hasbro seemed content to ignore her (and her squad) in favor of Arcee, with Hasbro & IDW trying to beef up female presence with “OCs” Windblade & Pyra Magna among others to little fanfare. Indeed, Windy appears to be benched in favor of Elita-One who has gotten more attention post Netflix WFC (that god awful show did one thing right and it was bring back a Female Autobot people actually like to complement Arcee).

I stand by the series still has a villain problem, and EarthSpark didn’t help by trying to make the Decepticons sympathetic moody Autobots, but also not properly taking advantage of Mandroid, Croft and (so far) the Quintessons. This has been an issue for the bulk of IDW, Cyberverse, & RotB as well, by either omitting Megatron, trying to redeem Megatron into a good guy and/or his replacements not being up to snuff/killed off too quickly. Scourge & Mandroid were steps in the right direction but alas. The Quintessons are also a step in the right direction but Hasbro seems semi hesitant to do much with them, despite their increased presence. (I’m leaning towards it being most toys related to them don’t sell, which is what will make a future Void Rivals toy line interesting…)

So now we’re at CyberWorld.

The lack of Bee in favor of Mirage due to his popularity from RotB seems telling among the Autobots, though we don’t have Elita so far in this series curiously.

All we have to go on Decepticon wise is Galvatron, Scorponok, and Sky-Byte, but that’s still a pretty big change up.

While they still have relevance in TFONE, Screamer & The Waves’ roles in EarthSpark are mostly minor, with Starscream as the standout (in a bad fan fic kind of way). Skybound mostly has ignored Megatron, slowly building up to him in stuff like Cobra Commander, with Starscream getting the crap beaten out of him, and as of the recent issue, Shockwave’s fate isn’t looking too good, leaving Soundwave. It does feel like Hasbro is willing to experiment more outside of Screamer & The Waves, given their absence this far in CyberWorld. Galvatron is also a surprise, given the “Let’s make Megatron an Antihero!” phase started in IDW, that carried over to stuff like Prime Wars, WFC, CV & ES.

I feel like using Galvatron is an attempt to both move away from Megatron for a bit, but to also still technically use him (as a villain) as usually Galvatron IS Megatron. Scorponok, at least in comics and the Headmasters anime, is typically a main villain, but how that works here we don’t know yet. He’s either G1 Marvel Scorponok or BW Scorponok, there’s very little inbetween.

So I think what we have is a big change that is going back to basics like Skybound did, but is willing to still experiment with other characters to add variety. Plus let’s be honest, having multiple Megatron toys from three different things with little visual difference is a sign of stagnation. Shaking it up with Galvatron is an improvement post TFONE.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Shut In (Eyeless Jack x reader oneshot!)

Basic plot: its really cold outside, and you urge Jack to stay in your home with you... he decides to stay despite knowing full well that he will be fine out in the freezing temperatures. You both decide to do things to pass the time and stay warm! Turns out Jack can make a mean cup of hot coco, too

Extra notes: I dont usually write fanfics, and the last one I've written was a personal one from late August... so to say I'm rusty and underexperienced is an understatement! I feel this one ended up a little.. weirdly paced imo but I think I'm still happy with the end result! Dialogue I feel I could have done better on but I'm going to be nice to myself since I mostly write hc posts so this is way out of my comfort zone.. Drafted on Tumblr then sent through google docs to pick up on some mistakes I missed, briefly reread no proper proof reading imo... lets hope this isnt a train wreck + it copied back to tumblr okay!! LMAO

Brief joke about pregnancy/making a pregnancy but its like one small snippet but I know that can make people uncomfortable + implies at least one of the characters is AFAB

Word Count: 2915

Extra Admin's note: I want to say again that I am so so happy about this blog hitting 1k followers, when I first started this blog I was originally going to use it to burn time and have something to do on the side, as well as having a place to put out my cringe ideas and hcs. I never thought this many people would be interested in my dumb thoughts, but here we are! I intend to keep writing this year, and perhaps even make more non-celebratory one shots this year? Maybe? I don't know I guess we'll see the reception on this fic!

It was the middle of the night, around the middle of January. Your boyfriend and you were holed up inside your apartment, you having locked the man up with you after seeing that it was below freezing out, as well as raining. You had to practically beg your boyfriend to stay with you for the night.

Your boyfriend, who also just so happened to be a man eating demon with tar dripping out of his hollowed out eye sockets. Your boyfriend, who was currently sitting still and staring forward, the only sound in the apartment coming from the dripping of your faucet. You had asked him to come visit you, it'd been a while... and he would never ever let you go to his cabin when it's this cold out. So here you both were now.

You pat the palms of your hands on your knees, sucking in one of your cheeks and working the flesh through your jaws for a moment. You were both technically stuck in the apartment now; you didn't want Jack to go out and risk getting sick, and Jack more than likely wouldn't want you to step out for the same reasons. So, you were both confined to what you already had within the space. You were about to open your mouth to speak but Jack broke the silence first. "You're shivering, do you want me to get some blankets?", blunt and almost robotic. He was never that expressive. "Or would you like to go to your room?" He added after a brief pause, his fangs poking just over his lip before he readjusted his mouth. You were both in the living room, sitting together on the couch; the front door to your left and a view of the kitchen to the right. You thought for a minute as your eyes lingered on the kitchen for a moment. You'd already eaten, before your partner arrived... but..

"That's fine, I'm probably going to make some hot coco," You pulled yourself up, stretching up. "Powdered stuff ooor..?" Jack mimicked you. You only shook your head, earning a disapproving look from him. "What?" You questioned, but he only dismissed you. "Why don't you get some blankets, I'll handle it," and he turned on his heel to make his way to the kitchen. "Maybe put on a movie, too, your choice." He added as his voice carried off. "Are you saying I can't cook?" You called back, following after him. No answer as he tugged out a pot. "I'll have you know-" you started once more

"Do you have half and half?" He was already opening your pantry to grab things.

"No, I don't,"

"Heavy cream? Whipping cream? Whatever it's called..." He mumbled as he placed various ingredients on the counter. Cocoa powder, vanilla, salt and sugar. You only nodded, and as he was about to begin working he paused. "Do you want anything else in it? Cinnamon? Nutmeg?" He paused and through gritted teeth, "Coffee?"

It was almost midnight, of course he would be opposed to you having caffeine so late.

"Cinnamon is fine," You watched him get to work. He measured everything out; even mixing the heavy cream with some milk to make a substitute for half and half.... was that really all it was? You weren't sure what you expected it to be, if it weren't..

He pulled his head up and stared at you. It was then that you noticed he had actually taken his mask off and set it at the end of the counter and out of the way. The black ooze dripping from his eyes was slow and posed little threat to dripping into your drink. He had a fistful of napkins on standby to dap his face dry should the flow quicken. "Aren't you going to get the blankets?"

You pat your hands on your thighs, pausing... watching him. His body had a warm glow on him from the old light bulb in the ceiling; it flickered every now and then. Under the yellowed light he almost looked healthy and alive, though there was no glint where his eyes should have been. His sharp nail tapping on the counter brought you back to the moment, blinking a few times. "Yeah.." you mumbled, defeated at the chance of making a drink for yourself stolen from you. But was that so bad?

You backed out of the kitchen, dragging your feet across the floor. Your apartment was.. a little on the smaller side so within a few steps you were in front of your bedroom door. You didn't really pay much attention to your surroundings as you shuffled through the blankets on the bed.. eventually you settled on just grabbing an arm full and waddling back to the living room, dumping everything you had grabbed onto the couch.

The house smelled of cinnamon and chocolate.. with a hint of vanilla.

Turning your gaze to the tv, your eyes scanned across the DVDs you had stacked messily. Nothing sounded good. "Is there anything you want specifically?" You called out as you settled yourself down criss cross in front of the tv and pulling all the cases onto the floor next to you. "Movie wise," You added as you pulled the first case into your hands. The DVD collection for Child's Play.. you had gotten it a few weeks ago, finding it on sale at your local store. You still hadn't popped it in to watch..

"I have.. Chucky, uhm..." You shuffled for the next case. "All the movies by the way.. I have that and.. most of the Friday the 13th movies," You called out. No answer, the only sound coming from the kitchen was the noise of a whisk gently being stirred. "I don't have Jason goes to hell... But!" You pulled out a third case with the Nightmare on Elm Street DVDs. "I DO have Freddy vs Jason," You mumbled and spread the three disks on the floor in front of you. Most of the disks you had, you noticed, were mostly older slasher movies. Still, Jack hadn't answered you. You pull yourself to your feet and trudge back into the kitchen. His back was to you, too preoccupied with the stove... He hadn't noticed you, not yet. An idea blossomed in your head, a smirk pulling itself across your lips. You steeled yourself, trying to force yourself to stop shivering.. Jack was always paying attention to his surroundings, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

You take a step forward and he still doesn't notice your approach.

Another step.

And another.

Jack wasn't the tallest, in fact if you wanted to you could rest your chin on his shoulder... and that's what you ended up doing, while wrapping your arms around his thick waist. You could feel his body seize up just a little bit against you, before relaxing. "You didn't answer, what sounds good?" You pulled your eyes down to look at the pot. Your drink was nearly finished. You view rocked as your boyfriend shrugged, still silent but the twitching of his pointed ears let you know he was listening.

"Anything's fine," Another shrug as he cuts the heat. "You're the one cooking for me, you get to pick the movie," You insisted. He paused mid-whisk, letting out a soft huff. Suddenly he spun around, his face just a few inches from yours. In the dimmed light his eye sockets seemed deeper, it's black ooze lazily dripping down his cheeks. You noticed the smudges on his face, from wiping the streaks. You briefly wondered what it was like to sleep with them, but your thoughts were cut short as he pulled a blackened and clawed hand to your hair; tucking a lock behind your ear. "How does...." He paused, sucking in his teeth. He looked almost embarrassed. "Bride of Chucky sound?"

"What? Want to study the characters again so we can dress up again this year for Halloween?" You tease. You had convinced him a few months ago to dress up with you. With him as Chucky, and you as Tiffany... It had taken some begging and convincing but you ultimately got him to agree. Although you didn't go out to get candy, you were both fine with staying inside watching movies together in costume. It was also that night you got him to watch the movies..

His ears darkened, before he scoffed. "No... actually this year I was thinking of..." He took a long pause, visibly scraping his brain for names of characters, before seemingly giving up. "Look I don't watch many movies I don't know any.. characters.." He grimaced, before gently pushing you off of him so he could turn his attention back to the hot cocoa. "We've still got nine months, more than enough time to come up with something..." You shrugged, then smirked. "Not enough time to make a Glen... or Glenda," You teased before turning on your heel. You held back a snicker as you heard Jack splutter, finally processing what you had just said to him.

"W-"

"I'm gonna go ahead and put in the disc, I'll leave it paused for you," You cut him off, still grinning to yourself as you kneeled down to do as you had said.

Soon enough Jack walked into the room with a mug, as well as a platter of cookies. "You didn't have to," You mumbled as you eyed the treats, but he only waved you off as he placed the plate and mug onto the coffee table. "You don't have to eat them, but I figured you might want a snack while watching the movie," He mumbled. You took the mug, and swirled the drink inside of it. "I hope I didn't put in too much cinnamon," Jack added as he watched you. He leaned over and started the movie.

You took a sip, smiling a little as the warmness crept in. "You did good, probably the best hot cocoa I've ever had." You offered a grin to him. "That has got to be the fakest compliment I've ever heard," Jack shot back, though you could see the corners of his mouth turning up just slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry! I believe this is the most decadent and satisfying beverage I've had ever been graced with in my life, and-" You began, only for Jack to hush you. "I'd rather you throw it on me, don't... say words like that again," He grumbled as readjusted himself into the couch. You took a sip and shrugged, "It's just absolutely immaculate," and he lightly smacked you on the arm. "I'm never making anything for you again," He snorted, before turning his attention to the movie.

You weren't going to lie, you felt a little bad treating yourself to the cookies, knowing Jack was unable to eat them without upsetting his stomach. Being a man-eating monster must really be hard. You purse your lips, and shoot a look at him from the corner of your eye. He must have been doing the same, because he turned his head to look at you. "Do you want to do something else?" He asked lightly, his grin from a few minutes ago already faded. "Do you ever miss eating.. food?" You asked before you could stop yourself. He didn't bother pausing the movie, instead he just fell silent and stared down, into the space between the two of you on the couch.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up, I know it's a touchy subject for you," You mumbled and put the mug on the table. You sucked in the air between your teeth, flicking your eyes up to the movie, before bringing them back down to your lap. It stayed like that for a minute before Jack broke the silence. "I mean... yeah, I do. But at least I don't have to eat every day like you do, means I can have more time to do what I want," He said. Clearly, he was still bothered, tip-toeing around the big.. thing about him. The air was still tense and thick, all of the previous joking gone now. It was nearly unbearable. Nearly.

"You know," Jack began after a few more seconds of silence when you didn't reply. "I've never tried cinnamon in hot cocoa, I didn't know that was a thing people did," He was changing the subject. "You haven't?" You asked, raising a brow. He eyed your mug, but you both knew there was no way he was going to take a sip.

"It's really good," You mumbled, and took the drink, "The combo, I mean," You added. He hummed, patting his knees lightly. You swirled the drink again, watching the... what was it called? Those lighter swirls in the drink.. Did that have a name?

"You've had hot cocoa before, right?" You asked. He hummed again, nodding his head. "Well.. the cinnamon makes it warm. Taste wise.. It makes it.." You took a sip and thought for a minute. "Richer, I guess? It's hard to explain," You muttered, then looked back at him. You tore your eyes back down when you saw he was looking right at you, totally hooked onto your words. "I hear nutmeg goes good in it, too.. but I've only tried nutmeg and chocolate together in baked goods," You shrugged. "You did really good with this, you know... not too much cinnamon.. not spicy, at least." You smiled. He nodded, before turning back to the movie.

"Woody, I hear people describe cinnamon like that," He leaned back into the couch, a dull pop came from his back.

"Woody," You repeated, then took a large sip of the hot cocoa. You put the mug down onto the table, and leaned into your boyfriend as the warmth crept and settled into your bones. You weren't even paying attention to the movie, your mind was now occupied with how tired you were. Your eyes slipped up to the clock on the wall, It was nearly one in the morning. Had it only been an hour since Jack walked himself into the kitchen?

You lean deeper into Jack, not caring about his body's natural chill. His clothing still smelled a little like the cocoa from earlier.. "Gotta invest in some cologne, you smell nice like this," You mumbled into his arm. "The cinnamon?" He asked, not looking down at you. "No.. the cocoa, I mean cinnamon would be a nice touch... but you don't seem like a sweet smelling guy, do you?" You muttered. "Are you already getting tired?" Jack asked, and he leaned over you to grab the remote, pausing the movie. You muttered, the heat of the hot cocoa doing way more than you expected on the tiredness you didn't notice you had. "A little," You shrugged, "But we can still try to finish the movie," You offered, but he shook his head. Of course he would, as much of a hard ass or party pooper he came off as, he was going to make sure you were going to get your rest.

You put your hand in his, the one that had the remote.. you unpaused the movie. He paused it, and you unpaused it again. It kind of kept up like this before Jack conceited and kept it playing, although he did lower the volume.. The subtitles were already on, though. "I win," You smirked up at him, before crawling into his lap. You placed your head on his chest, pausing when you felt him stiffen before relaxing against you. His heart beat for a moment before settling to its barely there rhythm. For a minute you thought about asking about his heart, as far as you knew he explained himself like he was becoming a walking corpse... how does that work?

You decided against it, you already asked about him earlier.. and besides, your mind was already beginning to blank as Jack reached to the side of the couch, and turned the lamp off.. It was dark now. It was still raining, you could more clearly hear the drops outside now that the movie was turned down. Plus, Jack was running his fingers through your hair, lightly massaging your scalp. It wouldn't be long until you finally gave in and fell asleep.

"Are you going to still be here in the morning?" You asked, melting into his chest as he hummed in response. "Plan on it, I still need to clean up the kitchen," He added as he curled your hair around his hand. "It'll still be cold in the morning," He added, "I need to make sure you bundle up before you go out for work," He added. "I'm not that dumb," You muttered and lightly slapped his arm. You swear, if he still had his eyes he would have rolled them.

"How do you see? I know you're not.. a normal person, but," You blurted out, lifting your head. He pushed your face back down, shushing you. "Sleep," He ordered, before loosening his hold on you a bit so you could get comfortable. It wasn't an order but it may as well have been with how your body started to loosen into him within the next few minutes, quickly snuffling out your curiosity and questions.

He'd still be here in the morning, you could pester him then. After all, it's what he signed up for when the two of you started to date one another..

[shu-glue]

On New Year's Eve (And Day, and the Week Before, and the Week After)

includes Zhongli, Tighnari, Scaramouche/Wanderer, Thoma in which the aforementioned spend their birthdays—and in turn, new years—with their beloved, you.

contains: tooth rotting fluff like no joke i need a dentist, established relationships in tighnari's and thoma's parts, growing relationships in zhongli's and wanderer's, gender neutral and they/them pronouns, spoilers for the Sumeru Archon Quest in wanderer's, spoilers for thoma's character story, lots of physical affection and just touchy-lovey stuff (sfw!), maybe ooc characters omg im so sorry

a/n: i don't think wanderer's ended up fluffy at ALL AHAHAHAH. this is long overdue and it's just in time for thoma's birthday uhu. i had a clear idea for each of their parts but i think i deviated so much, i hope you all still enjoy this EHDJEJS HAPPY NEW YEAR, LETS SEIZE 2023 BY THE NECK /j /hj(?)

✐ He's so old, you know.

✐ And it's not even to poke fun or make jokes; Zhongli really does feel old.

✐ After more than 6000 years of living, those 6000 years all seem to blend for him. Every 'new' year that passes isn't a new year, per se, but a repetition of everything thus far. Spring still comes after the winter, the sun still rises for the farmers and the roosters, the mountains of Liyue still stand tall.

✐ And after the first 1000, the new year became… old for the Geo Archon. He'll stare fondly at his people as they dance and sing in celebration of the upcoming year, he'll partake in the festivities that are sure to take place once the final hour of this year starts to count down. However, if you ask him—a being who's lived for millennia and for more millennia to come—the new year won't bring him as much joy and excitement as mortals feel because he's seen many new years come and go for as long as he's been alive.

✐ The years don't change for him, as everything's always in a state of uniformity for him. He won't even realize that their world has finished another trip around the sun until Director Hu barges into his office in excitement. She's been rambunctious all day, seeing as it's the last day of the year and even, coincidentally, her beloved consultant's birthday.

✐ He had been stubborn, refusing to accept a day off even with these two events transpiring today (he has stopped looking forward to them for years now).

✐ Unfortunately for him, Hu Tao was equally stubborn and equally eager to see this old man (now it's to poke fun and make jokes) enjoy himself for once, especially since it's the dawn of New Year's Eve. And she has the perfect weapon, the ultimate trump card up her sleeve.

"Oh, Mr. Zhongli~!"

It's not uncommon for Hu Tao to come barging into Zhongli's office at Wangsheng Funeral Parlor unannounced, another phenomenon that will likely not change in the upcoming year. A lively little thing despite the nature of their work, that sometimes has Zhongli quite perplexed despite his vast experience with people of all kinds.

He fixes some documents on his desk and looks up just as the current overseer of the funeral parlor enters his office, a pep in her step and a cheeky grin on her lips. Maybe Zhongli should ignore the cheekiness in her grin. Maybe.

"Director Hu. What brings you here at this time?"

"I was wondering why the lights are still on in here, despite it being the New Year and all. I should've guessed it was you, Mr. Zhongli." Hu Tao giggles, clasping her hands behind her back. "Aren't you going to come down to the harbor? Everyone's really going all out in the festivities."

"I'll be there shortly, Miss Hu Tao. I just need to sort out these documents." Zhongli straightens out the pieces of paper, tapping them on his desk.

"Which is going to take hours! You'll be spending the New Year cooped up in this office!" Hu Tao laments, frowning deeply. "Well, good thing I called them then."

Zhongli pauses midway of sorting documents into his desk drawer. "Called who?"

As he says that, a new voice rings out from behind the doorway to his office, one that Zhongli immediately recognizes and knows who it belongs to even before you pop your head out from behind the door. "Hello, Hu Tao. Hello, Zhongli. Happy new year."

✐ As it stands, you may be the only mortal in Teyvat who could shake the ex-Archon's heart like this. A simple server who Zhongli had met while he was ordering food from Third Round Knockout, the new recruit Degui was grateful for when it got busier and busier at the tavern.

✐ A conversation bloomed where Zhongli told you some bits of history regarding Liyue Harbor and it was a rather pleasant surprise when you squeeze in your own knowledge of the place, admitting that you spend a bit of your time at Wanwen Bookhouse on your days off.

✐ It came to the point that Zhongli became even more of a regular at the tavern, if that were possible; and it wasn't because his wallet was suffering this time. The staff there have come to grow used to his growing presence at their establishment and they won't even interrupt your talks when it's a slow day at work. (It's rather adorable, seeing the two of you at a table sitting far into a corner, Zhongli looking up at you with soft eyes as you listen to him ramble about the origin of Slow-cooked Bamboo Shoot Soup with rapt attention).

✐ Hu Tao—bless her soul, really—also caught wind of her consultant's growing affection for you and has been hellbent on devising schemes to get him to admit said affections for you. (Never really works because he always saw through her schemes and as stated before, he's stubborn.)

✐ Alas, he's caught between a rock (heh) and a hard place because she sends the two of you out to enjoy the New Year's Festival by the harbor, reassuring Zhongli that she'll sort out the documents herself for the time being.

✐ Zhongli wouldn't be as chatty as he normally is; he'll still indulge in all the stories you tell him, tell you about the origin of some of Liyue's customs regarding the New Year but you notice his lack of engagement all the same.

"Am I boring you?" You ask, blunt and straight to the point with furrowed eyebrows and a frown playing on your lips, stopping him from walking as you both stand still in the middle of the street.

The ex-Archon's eyes widen at your inquiry, his body stiffening. In truth, he does realize that he's more indifferent today than normal. But he didn't realize that you'd be bothered when he should've picked up on it in the first place.

"Oh no, my dear, you never bore me. It's just," he pauses, looking for the right words to say, "I apologize. I'm not exactly… that enthused by New Year's Eve."

"Oh? May I ask why?"

"Well," he chuckles, awkward if you strain your ear enough, "after so many years, I… believe the notion of a brand new year lost its charm to me."

For all the times Zhongli has enraptured attention from others with his tales of history, he really seldom talks about himself. Granted, this is as much as he is willing to divulge to you. He can't tell you of his time as an Archon, or his time in the war, or what he lost, what he gained. (He'll scare you off; he doesn't want you to see him as bizarre.)

But he wants to. He wants to feed your curious eyes and open his heart to you.

But not now.

"Is that so?" You hum, averting your gaze to the passersby in front of you. "Even when it's also your birthday?"

"How did you know it was my birthday?"

Your cheeks flush red, and you hurry to cover them with your hands. "I… asked Miss Hu Tao sometime ago. I was surprised to hear that it's right at New Year's Eve. And I… wished to spend time with you today, even if it was just for an hour."

Zhongli falls silent at your words, a gloved hand raised slightly in front of him clasped around nothing at all. For the first time in millennia, he doesn't know what to say, what to do with these hands. He doesn't know what to do with himself.

"But I understand if you had other plans and if I was impeding on said plans, I apologize for taking up your ti—!"

"Earlier, Director Hu sent me to Qingce Village." He clasps his hands back behind him, finally regaining his composure as he interrupts you, much to your confusion. "I… the sight was such a joyous thing to behold, to hear them chatter and mingle as they prepared for New Year, and the only thing that I regretted was that I had reveled in the sights alone."

The gaze he sets upon you was heavy with all the feelings he'd been trying to hold back; he slowly raises his hand and takes yours within his grasp, rubbing his thumb over your knuckles. "I had no other plans today, and I'm grateful you came to visit me, and that you're willing to spend time with me. If you would ever be so kind, would you like to visit Qingce Village tomorrow, together?"

✐ The Lord of Geo Rex Lapis has seen many new years come and go. He's seen winter melt into spring multiple times, seen multiple farmers go from generation to generation, stood on top of Liyue's never-changing mountains and watched everything continue in the same cycle like always.

✐ But he forgets; he is no longer the Lord of Geo Rex Lapis, or Morax, but the mortal man Zhongli. The consultant of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, the never-ending fountain of knowledge of Liyue's history. Birthdays and New Year's Eve were trivial matters to Morax, but that didn't mean they had to be trivial to Zhongli.

✐ And if you were to ask him now, as fireworks start to fly up into the sky and bathe it in light, he wouldn't mind entering the new calendar and the new age with you by his side.

⚘ The forest never changes, even when the end of the year is fast approaching.

⚘ Tighnari should know because he's been on forest patrol duty for the past few years even on New Year's Eve. Especially on New Year's Eve. (It's to make sure no lummox accidentally sets the forest on fire with a wayward firework. It has happened once. Or twice.)

⚘ He's the only one willing to do so as well. Not that he hates the fact the people of Gandharva Ville love celebrating New Years, he just doesn't participate in the festivities. No matter how silent they try to make the fireworks, his ears are still sensitive enough for the few sounds to hurt like a forest boar charging right at him; thus, he always sits out on the celebrations to go on patrol instead.

⚘ This year, however, Collei and the rest of the Forest Rangers want to see their local botanical genius take a break from botanical genius-ing and forest watching.

⚘ So not only do they force him to get a day off on New Year's Eve, they also force him to get a day off on his birthday; which to him, doesn't sound very efficient.

"I mean, just look at this logically—"

"Mhm."

"—if I take a day off twice in a week, that would be a waste of two days not tending to my work. I don't even NEED two days off from work unless I have a life-threatening situation that needs two days off from work!"

Your fingers stop their ministrations on his hair and ears, causing said ears to flop slightly as Tighnari glances up at you in confusion. "Maybe, look at it this way, 'Nari," your voice is soft like a flower bed, and sweet like nectar, "Collei and the others just want you to relax from time to time, you know? I have to agree with them when they say you bury yourself in your work too much."

⚘ Meeting you was purely a coincidence. You were an aspiring zoologist, another scholar from the Akademiya with incredibly sharp wit and a brilliant mind. You came down to Gandharva Ville to study the wildlife and he was on patrol when the two of you encountered each other. Now, it would have been a beautiful and adorable first meeting story, truly something you'd expect to read about in a light novel from the Yae Publishing House. However, at that time, an Avidya Leopard was chasing you down and Tighnari could only guess that you prodded at the wrong hornet's nest. Upon successfully diverting the leopard with an olfactory solution that irritated its nose (and unfortunately, irritated his as well), he turned to you—red nosed and teary eyed—and called you a lummox between sneezes.

⚘ Maybe an unflattering first impression but hey, it bloomed into a lasting friendship and now relationship all the same. So maybe calling you a lummox upon first meeting was a good thing (it wasn't, you still pout at him when he calls you a lummox).

⚘ Much like the other forest rangers, you always urge Tighnari to relax and take a break sometimes. You know being the head of the Forest Rangers demanded a lot from a person and you know that paired with Tighnari's love for knowledge pertaining to everything natural, he'd be too stubborn to even think of taking a break. You love him but you'd rather have him call you all the synonyms of a buffoon rather than fish out his unconscious body from under a root after he sniffed some new species of flower but its pollen knocks people out. (If you ask Tighnari, he'll just say that was a hypothetical, detailed example).

⚘ In all honesty, you were the reason Collei actually managed to convince Tighnari to take that day off.

"I don't 'bury myself in my work too much'—" You look at Tighnari with an unamused expression. "Maybe I do get immersed in my work a little too much sometimes."

"You do." You bite the inside of your cheek, averting your eyes to stare at the grass and flowers beside the two of you—wild cosmos, and chicory, and daisies—all fluttering in the wind. "Would it kill you to, I don't know, actually take a break sometimes without complaining about taking a break?"

"You underestimate me." He's being sassy with you, eyes closed and eyebrows raised in a manner you know so well in all the months that you've been dating him.

"I'm not, I know you love your work, it's just that—" You sigh heavily, feeling Tighnari play with the tassle of your Vision that hangs off your chest, lips in a frown as he waits for you to finish your sentence. "I miss you sometimes."

His ears flatten against his head and he sits up slightly from your lap, eyes wide and frown deep when he takes in your crestfallen face. "Hey, hey hey hey," he gently brings you closer to him by your neck, nuzzling his nose against your hair, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry—you're right, you're all right," his gloved hand cups your cheek, "I bury myself in my work and research so much that I forget to focus on us."

"You do." Your tone is just as pouty as your lips as you glare at him through your lashes. It actually makes him laugh as he nuzzles his nose against your other cheek instead, kissing the corner of your lips multiple times. "Wh—'Nari!"

"Stop being so adorable, you lummox." He finally presses a kiss to your lips, soft and chaste. The type of kiss that he knows melts your heart and makes your knees buckle despite the lack of so called "raw passion". You both like it that way. "Come to Sumeru City with me."

"What?"

"Come to Sumeru City with me. Amurta invited me to speak at some of their seminars."

"But," you tuck a piece of hair behind your ear, looking at Tighnari with an unsure expression, "my research—" "Would it kill you to, I don't know, actually take a break sometimes?" He mimicked your words from earlier, nosing at your collarbone as you roll your eyes and sigh. "I don't want to leave you by yourself when New Year comes." (He doesn't want to be alone on New Year's either.)

"You hate celebrating New Year's."

"I hate the fireworks, love," his tail wags behind him, "but I love you more than I hate the fireworks."

⚘ The forest never changes, even when the end of the year is fast approaching, even when he grows one year older.

⚘ But, Tighnari wouldn't mind the jarring booms of fireworks, or the cheers of the people of Gandharva Ville as the clock strikes midnight. As long as you continue to stay by his side despite all his flaws, he'll welcome the new year with open arms.

⚘ (You both hear the sound of a firework randomly going off in the distance, and Tighnari mutters, "Lummox." under his breath before he kisses your forehead and runs towards the culprit, an irritated remark waiting on his lips.)

❅ In all honesty, he didn't expect to live to see the new year, let alone his 'birthday'.

❅ Then again, he didn't also expect to be aided by the Traveler and his floating, somewhat tolerable little companion, and the Dendro Archon he tried to dethrone himself nor to receive his very own Anemo Vision either so really, who was he to have normal expectations?

❅ To say that a normal life living in Sumeru was going to be difficult was, undoubtedly, an understatement. The Traveler already left for Fontaine with their companions, so it only left Nahida, now the sole Archon of Sumeru, as the only one he recognizes as his "friend" in this nation.

❅ He would have been content actually, if everyone else minded their own business and left him alone to his own devices (the puppet doesn't take kindly to being bothered with trivial matters) but unfortunately, his dear only friend is trying to get him to make more friends (who needs more friends? Two allies and talking emergency rations are quite enough).

❅ Despite his whining, Nahida signs him up for some lessons at the Akademiya, hoping it'd break him out of his shell and get him to mingle more with the other scholars and students.

❅ There is the one concerning fact that it's not that he's unwilling to break out of his shell, it's that he breaks out of his shell and stabs everyone close by with the shell pieces (figuratively) before retreating back. His prickly attitude does not help when it comes to intermingling with the student body at the Akademiya, who may, hypothetically, retreat to the far corners of the buildings just to avoid his ire. Nahida has plenty to work on with him.

❅ However, she firmly believes that he can finally be able to make friends and build relationships he can rely on again, as long as she nudges him in the correct direction. New year, new Wanderer, right? Right?

"Stupid," his fingers pull at the grass blades beneath him, glaring forward at nothing at all, "this friend-making plan would have never worked."

He has snuck out of the Akademiya once again, retreating into the forest that surrounded the vast establishment to avoid Lesser Lord Kusanali's searching gaze.

She had accompanied him to the Akademiya today to make sure he did do what she told him to; borrow some books from the library, attend some lectures about any topic he desires, strike up an academic conversation with some scholars that may be wandering hallways. Anything that would include socializing of any kind. But while she had her head turned to speak with Alhaitham, he managed to slip away and escape to the woods.

He does feel bad for bailing on her; Nahida only had his best interest in mind, despite all the things he did to her in the past (no amount of redeeming acts would make up for the mistakes he committed against her). However, surely, with all her knowledge and wisdom, she would have at least guessed that this plan of hers wouldn't work.

This entire thing is a waste of time. No one is as patient as Nahida, who can put up with his snarky quips long enough to see the soft side to him, the side that only a few have witnessed (the time he lost his memories doesn't count, not ever).

He was about to lean back, about to enjoy the sun streaming through the canopy that hangs above him, when someone—the audacity—throws a rock at his head. The force of the rock hitting him sends him lurching forward with a loud grunt. He whirls around so fast his hat almost falls off the top of his head, only to meet your slightly flabbergasted gaze.

"Huh? I thought you were some fungus for a second."

❅ Granted, you were aware that you were going to encounter something when you ventured out to the woods to gather ingredients for your cooking activity. The forest that surrounded the city is not that safe, seeing as you can randomly encounter any carnivorous or fungal enemy at every shrub.

❅ But you never expected to find the Archon's little friend sitting and brooding by himself behind a bush, let alone mistaking him for aforementioned fungal enemy (why your first instinct was to throw a rock at it, you don't know). (you also don't know why you heard a clink! sound when the rock hit him but you guess that you hit his abnormally large hat)

❅ You had heard of Lord Kusanali's companion, a quaint fellow with Inazuman roots but a Sumerian Anemo Vision hanging from the sash on his shoulder, who was also friends with the brave Traveler that came through your beloved nation.

❅ A strange fellow, with a tongue as sharp as he is strange.

❅ Yes, he yells at you for throwing a rock at him, spouting things about 'audacity' and 'not knowing who he is', which you admittedly chose to stop listening to. You really don't have time for any thorny mushrooms.

"Aren't you Lord Kusanali's companion? Where is she?" You ask indifferently, turning your head around as if looking for the tiny Dendro Archon (who is, well, busy looking for the Wanderer in Haravatat sorry Nahida).

"I fail to see how it concerns you."

"My my, so prickly for a mere 'shroom." Instead of leaving, you actually walked closer and squatted down next to him, regarding him with curious eyes. You're an academic, after all; you love to investigate the quiant and strange. "It's dangerous to be in the forest alone. You could be torn to shreds by a leopard for all you know."

He scoffs, propping his chin on the palm of his hand. "Says you. You're wandering the forest alone, just like I am."

"I fail to see how that makes sense, given that we're together in each other's presence."

❅ You're weird, is what he finally concludes. An unknown scholar, who the Wanderer has never seen before; he isn't even sure which of the Six Darshans you attend. Yet, despite his bratty and off-putting attitude, you still sat beside him. And you looked at him with a gaze he never experienced before. He has witnessed ire, he has witnessed pity; but he never witnessed a gaze like yours.

"You irk me."

"Thank you." He blinked when you blinked. "You intrigue me."

A confused 'thank you???' was on the tip of his tongue, ready to tumble out of his lips. You irk him. You truly do. Slapping his palms on his knees, he stands up. Retreating, to him, is a shameful act and must be avoided at all costs but in this case, he's willing to swallow his pride just so he can get away from you and that infuriating gaze. "Forget it, why am I even talking to you—"

"You can join us instead of brooding somewhere crawling with predators." There it is again. That look. He hates it.

"And what makes you think I'd go along with you and whatever crazy group you're with?"

You actually, legitimately think, he sees, as you look up in thought. As if you're actually thinking of—no, calculating the pros and cons of him actually joining you, totally ignoring the fact he insulted you. You are incredibly, absolutely…

"Well, I can only presume that you snuck away from Lord Kusanali for some reason. And you are admittedly the strangest person I've met." He could say the same about you. "I would like to get to know you better so I can see what makes you so weird. In addition, you'd be able to hide away from Lord Kusanali for a few more hours."

…you're so incredibly stupid and strange. But most of all, you've piqued his interest. He hates that look in your eyes, the look of someone scrutinizing a test variable, the look of someone disassembling a chaos device just to look at its contents despite the chance of explosion. But it's not like Il Dottore's, no.

He wants to challenge whatever hypothesis you've come up with about him.

"Fine." He finally scoffs, adjusting his hat before he looks at you expectantly. "Lead the way, scholar."

❅ You're… still clueless as to how you managed to convince someone like this Wanderer to come with you to your cooking interest club. You weren't expecting it; you wholely believed that he would reject your offer with the same snarky attitude.

❅ Your club members didn't expect this either, if the way almost all of them dropped their cooking utensils once you entered the kitchenette with Wanderer in tow was any indication. (They accept him real quick when he whips up a batch of perfectly baked baklava for the first time and helps some of your friends prepare some candied Ajinelakh Nuts. He even cooks his own take on an Inazuman dish that has your friends raving for more.) (He doesn't eat a bite of his own cooking, saying you all wolf it down well by yourselves, mocking, of course. You hypothesize, however, that he is just not fond of making sweets, judging by the grimace he wears everytime you offer him some. Why is he so good at making sweets then—)

❅ He still had a long way to go to make up for all that he did in the past. No amount of wishful thinking or positive attitude would change that. But, if he can accept his new identity as Wanderer (he looks at you, flour on your cheek, standing beside the stone oven waiting for the baklava to bake as you read a document you managed to snatch from the library), maybe he can accept this new year and this new life too.

The Dendro Archon smiles as she merely stands by the doorway, not wishing to interrupt such a warm scene. "Happy birthday, Wanderer."

♡ Sometimes, Thoma found himself missing Mondstadt.

♡ Inazuma is his home; he has found his purpose in this nation, he has found close friends who he'd do everything for and who'd do everything for him. He has a steady job as the housekeeper for the Kamisato Clan, and the people of Inazuma always turn to him when they are in a time of need. He's fulfilled in Inazuma.

♡ However, everytime he stands on the docks of Ritou, looking out into the horizon—when the sun sets, is high above the sky, and rises—he can't help but feel like the salty sea breeze is always pulling and pulling and pulling him. As if tugging him back towards the City of Freedom, the other half of his roots, his origin.

♡ He hasn't seen his mother in years. He also realizes he barely talks to his father anymore because of work, despite being in the same nation.

♡ He's fulfilled in Inazuma, with many friends, but sometimes he felt lonely.

♡ He was busy tidying up the tea room at the Yashiro Commission, making sure that everything was spic and span for when Sir Ayato and Miss Ayaka come back from New Year's preparations in the town proper. It's always rather busy during this time of year, and the two siblings always struggle with maintaining public order when the new year starts approaching.

♡ It makes sense that he must also do his utmost best to help them any way he can—

"Take a break this time."

What.

"But isn't this the peak of like, public disruptions, I don't think it's right for me to suddenly take a break—" Ayato stops his friend from speaking as he raises his hand, a smile on his face.

"You've been loyal to us for a long time, Thoma. You do things for all of us without asking for anything in return. This time, Ayaka and I both decided that we want you to enjoy New Year's without worrying about your duties as our housekeeper." Ayato firmly pats Thoma's shoulder in reassurance. "I'm not asking you as the Yashiro Commissioner, but I'm asking you as a friend. Go, enjoy yourself for once."

"But I—" Thoma doesn't get to finish what he's about to say, as Ayato walks away without another word, leaving the housekeeper alone in the tea room. "…how am I gonna take a break?"

♡ It's obvious that Thoma isn't used to taking breaks.

♡ He's accustomed to the hustle and bustle of his daily life, helping people with their errands, solving some villagers' problems, running errands for the Kamisato Clan, running his own errands. Now he doesn't know what to do with himself.

"Thoma, love," you place your hand on top of his bouncing knee, "you're antsy again."

His leg immediately stops bouncing when he feels your warm touch and Thoma breathes a drawn out sigh, gently clasping his fingers around your hand. "I know, I know, I'm sorry." He brings your hand up to kiss your knuckles, as if telling you that he's fine through every kiss he presses to your skin.

Thoma didn't mean to let his own negative thoughts impede on this date. Just as it's rare for him to visit his father, it's rare for the two of you to be able to meet up like this, having a warm meal at Kiminami Restaurant.

♡ You were a travelling merchant, which means your job demanded that you move around from place to place. You met when you were at Ritou, busy being denied access to travel within the nation despite your past business. Thoma, who was aiding some merchants, just so happened to pass by and managed to calm the situation down, and you got your travel permit.

♡ You guys became closer than ever since that day, until he finally asked you to go out with him. It was hard at first, with both your schedules, but you made it work; love isn't just the happy, fluttering feeling after all, but the effort you put for each other.

"Don't tell me you're bored because you're basically forbidden from lifting a finger, Thoma." You tease, bumping shoulders with him as you giggle when he scrunches his nose.

"Maybe I am."

"That's not the purpose of a break, you know."

"But—" Thoma plops his forehead on your shoulder. "I like helping around Narukami Island."

You frown, patting his blonde hair. You know he was brought up to be a loyal, and kind, and helpful young man (it's why you fell in love with him in the first place). He told you stories about how his father taught him about loyalty, back when you first started going out, and you even met his father one time.

You wished you could take his mind off of work, though, just so he can relax. He should make use of this period of rest, like go on a hike, or do yoga, or trave—

Bingo.

"Do you want to go to Mondstadt with me?" You ask him, momentarily lowering the chopsticks you have in your other hand. Upon hearing the City of Freedom, Thoma instantly perks his head up, looking at you with those green eyes you love oh so dearly.

"Mondstadt?"

"I was going to Liyue for a bit anyway, and I feared that I was going to have to leave you alone this New Year." You say, scratching your cheek. "If you'd like, we can go to Liyue together for the Lantern Rite, and… we can go to Mondstadt after that for your birthday."

You were nervous, asking him something like this. You don't know why but it felt like it was something big, like it was bigger than just the two of you. Thoma stared at you with wide eyes, the sun setting behind him just right, that the remaining rays of the sunlight illuminated your face in a serene glow.

He doesn't register exactly when he made up his mind, or when his mouth started moving, but eventually…

"Yes."

♡ Thoma was nervous when you were about to board the ship that would take you to your first destination, Liyue. But with your gentle reassurance and the feeling of your hand in his, he was able to quell the anxiety in his stomach until you reached the harbor.

♡ As you promised him, you and he enjoyed the Lantern Rite together, with you essentially giving him a tour of Liyue as you both ate the nation's cuisine and experienced their traditions.

♡ A few days after New Year, just before his birthday, you both caught a travelling caravan heading towards Mondstadt.

♡ It finally caught up to him that, yes, he was finally going to come back home after so many years. He'd be able to see his mother again. He'd be able to see the windmills, the people, the lake. He'd be with the other half of him again.

♡ It would be daunting to see just how much the city changed. How everything became different since the last time he was here. But, if you're here with him, on this new journey in this new age, he'll be fine.

♡ And at the back of that tiny caravan, with your hand in his like it's always been this entire trip, the City of Freedom now coming into view as you near…

♡ … Thoma cried in front of you for the first time.