#i PROMISE i'm going to write something with actual plot again soon

[wawamouse]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Oz (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Miguel Alvarez/Carmen "Chico" Guerra Characters: Carmen "Chico" Guerra, Miguel Alvarez (Oz) Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Phone Sex, Sex Talk, Some Humor Summary:

After being released from Oz, Miguel calls Chico and tells him about his new bed.

[scratchandfriends]

Such a Tease (+18)

Pairing: Wyll Ravengard x Female Tav

WC: 3700 LMAO I blacked out

Synopsis: You decide to mercilessly tease Wyll after a close, embarrassing encounter and it kind of ruins his life. That is, until Astarion gives him some pointers on how to get back at you.

Warnings: A LOT OF PLOT AND A LOT OF PORN. Dirty talk and tons of it, teasing, unprotected sex (don't do that), creampies (also not that), breeding, fingering, mirror sex, p in v sex, dom-ish Wyll, I'm tired of writing him as a sexless loser but he canonically is a sexless loser and is the reason I love him so... we make due.

*not proofread I'm on edibles*

— — 

“What a wretched place… I can’t believe Astarion actually lived here…” Wyll remarks as the two of you creep further into Cazador’s palace, searching for any clues to find your way to the ritual. 

“Yeah, well, it’s not like he did so willingly.” You roll your eyes as you bumped a dusty end table around, examining it for any signs of a trap or hidden switch. “Not everyone laid their head on designer, silk pillowcases, Ravengard.” 

Wyll scoffed as he tapped on the individual bricks of an exposed stone wall, searching for a loose one. 

“You know damn well I haven’t been back to the city in years. But that’s not my point. I was just saying I hope we can get out of here as soon as possible, it’s sucking the life out of me.” Wyll gently prodded further along the dimly lit dungeon corridor, careful not to trigger any floor traps. 

“I don’t like the aura of doom and gloom either, but it’s important to Astarion so I guess we have to just make quick business of this vampire lord.” You search the seams in the walls for anything out of place. You and Wyll meet at a dead end  after searching your respective sides of the corridor. 

You step to the middle of the corridor and turn back to whence you came. 

“Well we might as well go back and try another passage.” You comment. 

You feel Wyll follow closely behind you. 

“And if we don’t find-“ Wyll begins but is halted by a *click* beneath your feet. 

“Ah!” You scream as the floor beneath you gives way, causing both you and Wyll to fall into a cramped hole deep in the floor. 

“Ooof!”

“Oww!”

It’s pitch black other than the dim orange glow of candle light above your heads. 

You wiggle around, feeling the wooden wall in front of you and Wyll’s padded armor against your back. 

“Shit… Hello!? Gale!? Karlach?!” You cry out once you realize you can’t get your arms high enough to reach the ridge of the trapdoor you had just fallen down. 

Nothing. 

“Hells… some predicament this is…” You hear a low voice from right behind you. Rough hands had instinctively made their way to your abdomen during the fall. Wyll was lodged right behind you in the tiny cavern, hands locked against your stomach. 

“Can’t you cast something to get us out of this?” You gasp exasperatedly. 

“It’s been a long day and I can’t even move my hands… the prospect of magic working down here like this is slim…” Wyll explains. 

“If you hadn’t walked around like you owned the place we wouldn’t be stuck here…” You huff out, annoyed. 

“I’ll have you know I-“ Wyll begins to retort. 

“HELLO? TAV? WYLL?” The distant voice of Gale came from above you. 

“We’re down here!” You call upwards. 

“Hmm… I can’t seem to find a switch to pull the floor back up.. we’re going to have to go back and get Astarion.” Gale comments. 

“And how long is that going to take?!” You cry out, irritated. 

“He’s just at the other end of the castle, soldier, no need to get your undies in a knot!” You hear Karlach say from above you. “We’ll be back in a jiffy, promise!” 

You sigh. 

You hear two sets of footsteps prod quickly away from you. 

Fingertips graze up your armor. It tickles. You flinch.

“Stop that.” You scold. 

“I can’t help it, it’s the only place for my hands to move.” Wyll responds, frustrated. 

“Ok well stop moving them!” You say angrily. 

“I’m trying, my fingers are going numb!” Wyll chirps back. 

You sigh again. 

You stand stoically still. 

“They’ll be back with Astarion soon, and we can get out of this.” You state plainly. 

“Right. Of course.” Wyll says. 

5 minutes go by…

Your hips begin to ache in the tight quarters, so you start to shift yourself onto the balls of your feet in order to change the pressure on your joints. You give your knees a break for minute before shifting back to your toes. 

Did you hear a groan?

“Stop fucking moving…” Wyll softly moans. “Hells..” 

“What the hells.. are you-“ You shift your weight onto your other leg and you feel it. “Oh..”

You felt a new, hard bulge was pressing itself between the cheeks of your butt as you leaned up against the wooden wall before you. 

“Wyll you can’t be serious…” You scoff a bit. 

“You act like I have any control of this…” Wyll hesitates. “… sort of thing…” He says through gritted teeth.

“We could be killed by a vampire lord any second and you’re rock solid right now… You really can’t handle being this close to a woman, Ravengard?” You tease. 

“Of course I can. It just so happens that your ass is exactly where.. well..” 

“Where what? Where you want it?” You smirk and look over your shoulder as far as you can.

“HEY! SOLDIER!” Karlach’s voice explodes down the trap shaft and you both look up instinctively. “FANGS IS HERE TO SAVE YOU!” 

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. 

“Oh you goody-two-shoes-idiots. This is the least secretive of all the traps here. Of course you’re stuck. If I had half a mind I’d let you rot down here…” Astarion jests. He peers over the two of you with a smug look on his face. 

“Shut up. You get us out of here and we kill Cazador.” You roll your eyes. You lift your arms up in anticipation. “I don’t think you’ll have the advantage without us.” 

“And you have to admit seeing him take an Eldritch Blast to the face would be very satisfying.” Wyll adds. 

— — 

Cazador was dead. Duke Ravengard was alive. You had freed Wyll from his pact. Many celebrations were in order for the group, but you were exhausted. Surviving the explosion from the Iron Throne and saving the poor gnomes had taken a toll on your physicality as well as your mental state. 

The party raged around you on the top floor of the Elf Song Tavern. You consider going to sleep but the open bottles of wine and grain alcohol on the table in the far corner of the suite were beckoning you. You were celebrating and tomorrow is never promised, especially in these interesting times. You saunter over to the liquor and pour yourself a shot of clear alcohol. You silently toast to yourself before throwing back the shot. The liquid burns your throat and you wince, letting out a harsh breath. 

“Whew!” You exclaim, caught off guard by the potency of the liquor. 

“I see our fearless leader is enjoying the spoils of her successes.” A voice comes from behind you and you turn around. 

Wyll is approaching you with an empty wine goblet in hand. 

“Coming back to cop another feel, Blade of Avernus?”  You chide. 

 Wyll blushes and looks to his feet. 

“I- of course not- I-” Wyll struggles to find his words. “It was merely a physiological reaction to adrenaline and stimulation, and I’d prefer if we just-“ He fumbles over himself making excuses as to why being pressed up against you had made him so hard so easily. 

“Oh, no?” You pour yourself another drink. “A shame really…” 

“A s-shame? What is?” Wyll stutters out and finally meets your gaze again. 

You take another shot before taking a step towards him, getting so close that your chests are almost touching. 

“I mean, it’s a shame you weren’t here to get another handful of me.” You say with a smirk and lower your voice to a sultry whisper. “I was really hoping to use those horns as handlebars as I ride your tongue…” 

Wyll’s eyes nearly pop out of his skull. He knew you were crass, but he had never had a woman come onto him so strongly and it was causing his brain to malfunction. 

“I- Tav- You-“ He sputters. 

“Wyll, I wanted to-“ another voice interjects from a few paces away. 

Wyll is snapped out of his trace and his head turns in the direction of his father who was making his way towards the two of you. His bewildered expression was not lost on the duke. 

“Sorry- am I interrupting?” Duke Ravengard asks. 

“No no! I was just heading off to bed.” You wave off the question. “I’m sure you two have a lot to catch up on. Goodnight, gentlemen.” You give a polite nod before trotting to your stateroom and leaving the duo by the bar. 

“She seems like a fine woman.” Wyll’s father comments once you’ve made your exit. 

“Yes- I mean, she’s certainly something.” Wyll is still staring off in the direction of the corner you rounded before you disappeared to your room. 

“Could make a fine duchess some day…” 

“Father, please.” Wyll bemoans. 

“I’m just saying…” 

— — 

It was like you lived inside his head. 

Your playful raunchiness was no longer something he ignored, but something that set his heart (and loins) ablaze. You had put that image in his head against his will and now his thoughts were consumed by the other filthy things you could promise to do to him. It was improper, but he couldn’t help it. Wyll couldn’t stop thinking of how you’d look underneath him, flushed and sweaty as you spilled more raunchy words to him from your sinful lips. 

He still couldn’t tell if you were serious or just fooling with him for the fun of it. He laid awake at night picturing your naked body atop him gleaning pleasure from his flesh… but you were both so different from one another, would he know the first thing about giving you what you desire? Should he act on these urges or stifle them further?

The next night Wyll takes a chance and confides in a companion about his struggles. 

“I don’t know why she’s teasing me like this. How am I supposed to respond? I don’t know the first thing about the art of seduction.” 

“From what it sounds like she doesn’t need to be seduced any further. What was it that she said to you, again?” Astarion muses as he swirls the red wine in his glass. 

“She said she..” Wyll looks around the seating area at the tavern and makes sure no one else was listening. “… wanted to ride my tongue.” He blushes slightly having to repeat Tav’s filthy words. 

Astarion giggles. 

“Gods, Wyll, and you didn’t haul her over your shoulder and carry her off to bed that instant? You showed much more restraint than I would have. Well, now that I think about it, that might be a ride you wouldn’t survive. She’s a spitfire.” Astarion comments. 

“And that’s what’s stopping me!” Wyll groans as he sets his tankard down on the coffee table. “I can’t possibly be able to handle… all of that. Not in the way she wants, surely…” 

“Don’t sell yourself short! You’re basically prince charming!” Astarion grins and takes a big gulp of wine from his glass. “You’re good with words, and it seems like she enjoys a fair bit of dirty talk… just add some spice to your usual flowery language, maybe that’ll work. And if it doesn’t, you’ll still get your cock wet in the process. Sex is like wine, even bad wine is still good.” Astarion says as he drains his cup. 

Wyll sighs and rolls his eyes. 

“I don’t think I can live if I thoroughly embarrass myself intimately with someone I have to spend the foreseeable future with… maybe even longer than that…”

“Longer? Goodness, Wyll, you have a crush!” Astarion lets out another mischievous cackle. 

“I am a grown man, I do not have a crush.” Wyll scoffs. 

“Well, if you’re such a grown man, go up to her room and handle your business. I’m tired of hearing you complain that a beautiful woman wants to cum violently on your face. My sympathy for you is waning. Get up there and give her a taste of her own medicine.” Astarion states firmly, growing bored of Wyll’s moping.

“Fine. I’ll do it.” Wyll chugs his drink to gain bit of liquid courage and slams the empty cup down on the table. “I might… need some pointers first…” He says sheepishly. 

“You’ve certainly come to the right place.” Astarion says with a devilish grin. “Pass me the wine… and take notes.” 

— — 

You stood in front of the large mirror in the corner of your rented room brushing the tangles out of your long hair. The short blue nightgown you wore dusted the tops of your thighs and dipped low between your ample breasts. 

*knock knock*

“I’m tired, Astarion. Can’t you find an unassuming barn animal tonight?” You call out, still facing the mirror and combing your hair. 

You hear the door open and shut. The lock clicks. You see a figure appear behind you in the mirror, but it’s not who you expected. The horned man locks eyes with you through the mirror, still a comfortable distance away. His brows are furrowed as he rakes his eyes over your exposed legs and cleavage. 

“Oh if it isn’t my sweet, newly-free warlock.” You smile. “You look troubled. I saw Mizora skulking around downstairs, still. Is she bothering you?” You finish preening and toss the comb onto the wooden nightstand. 

“No.” Wyll seems serious as he approaches you from behind. “It would seem a different temptress has been plaguing me as of late…” 

“And whoever could that be?” You giggle playfully. 

Wyll comes close enough to you that his chest grazes against your back. 

“Hmm… I think you might have an idea.” He murmurs into your neck, lips not touching your skin, but close enough you feel his hot breath on your sensitive flesh. A tingle runs down your spine. “It’s someone who has been incessantly hells bent on torturing me for days now…” His head cranes upwards to meet your eyes in the mirror. “Sound like someone you might know?” His eyebrows raise in question. 

“I can’t say I’ve heard of anyone matching that description-“ You smirk but you’re startled by hands suddenly grasping your hips. “Oh!” 

With your bodies pressed together now, Wyll gently nuzzles his nose into the shell of your ear and draws circles on your skin through your night dress with his thumbs, bunching up the fabric in the process. 

“Oh, no? You haven’t?” He chides. “That’s a shame, then…” He says in a mocking tone, voice both sweet and arousing in your ear. You feel you feel your lower lips begin to dampen and you let out a shaky breath. 

“And why’s that?” You manage to get out, still trying to maintain your confident facade. 

Wyll snickers a bit. 

“Well, if I were to find the person who has been doing this… well I’d like to have some words with them…” He says slowly as his fingertips dust the tops of your exposed thighs, causing your skin to prickle with excitement. 

“And what might those words be? Out of curiosity?” You ask, watching the way the candles illuminate his strong arms wrapped around your body, his skin flushing a deep brown-burgundy in this light. 

“I’d tell her…” Wyll’s eyes flit up to the mirror to meet yours again, nose still pressed at your ear. “That I was going to give her exactly what she wanted.” Wyll pulls on your hips and grinds his throbbing erection into your backside through his pants. It felt quite as large as it did when you had felt it before, just like this. “I’d tell her that I would bend her in half and bury my cock in her cunt so deep, that she’d feel me in her chest.” Wyll punctuates last word with his right hand slipping between your thighs and cupping your sex.

You feel your hole clench involuntarily, pushing out a gush of slick onto Wyll’s fingertips. He slides his first two fingers up through your folds, dragging your wetness up to your clit and started to rub softly. “I’d say how I would make her scream my name until her throat wore dry…” He thrusts two fingers into your twitching hole and you gasp. He curls them immediately to begin pulling and tapping on that sweet spot inside of you. 

“Wyll!” You say breathlessly.

“Yes, yes just like that. I’d also tell her that I was going to fill her up so well, that’d she’d feel me  dripping out of her for days.” 

You find yourself being on the edge of climax embarrassingly quickly. Wyll’s foul mouth and nimble hands were quickly hurtling you towards the peak of your pleasure. Your knees buckle as your cunt clenches down on his fingers. You moan lewdly and grip his forearm. 

“Look at yourself.” Wyll’s left hand cradles the back of your head and tilts it upwards from where it was resting against his shoulder. “A wet, little mess creaming my fingers…” Wyll clicks his tongue. “Not much to say now, dear?” 

You had to admit, it was quite the sight. Your body leaning fully into Wyll’s larger one, cunt on full display in front of the mirror as Wyll punished it with his fingers. Your brows were scrunched together in pure pleasure, you were so close to the edge you could barely be embarrassed at the wet squelching sounds emanating from your lower half. 

“I-I-I’m going to- Wyll, gods!” You pant. 

He keeps the exact same pace of his fingers and grinds his palm into your clit. Your vision blurs as you cry out. Wave after wave of pleasure overtake you as you orgasm onto Wyll’s hand, your release coating his palm. 

“That’s a good girl…” He coos into your ear and your eyes flutter closed, pussy clenching again at his praise. His hand slips from within you and moves to pull your night shirt over your head. After he drops it to the floor, he picks you up and tosses you softly against the pillows on your bed. 

Still in a daze, your chest heaves as you watch him undress. 

“I should have wound you up ages ago.” You say with a lighthearted chuckle. 

“I couldn’t agree more.” Wyll smirks as he climbs onto the bed and slots himself between your legs on his knees. “Now respectfully, love, shut up and keep being good for me.” He rubs his member up and down your slit, collecting your wetness and nudging your clit with each stroke.

You had never seen this side of him before… had your constant teasing finally broken him? 

You were drawn out of your thoughts by the head of Wyll’s cock breaching your soaked entrance. You were wet and open for him, so he met no resistance. You still whined at the sudden stretch, his girth being much larger than just his two fingers. He pressed further, groaning deeply when he was finally sheathed fully inside of you. 

He thrusts gently, getting you used to his intrusion. When you start to keen and arch your back in want, he speeds up his pace. He places his hands under your knees and pushes them back into your chest. He leans over you, hitting you perfectly deep in your favorite spot. You moan loudly, not caring who else in the suite could hear the evidence of your coupling. 

Instead of hammering into you, Wyll ground his hips into yours, base of his sex rubbing against your clit with every moment. He pants heavily above you as he massages his cock into the spot that makes you see stars. He presses his forehead to yours and you cup his face desperately in your hands, gasping and pulling for air in your lungs. 

He presses in further to kiss you. You eagerly respond by slipping your tongue into his mouth, trying to focus on the kiss but the feeling of his throbbing member against your insides caused your movements against his lips to be sloppy. 

“I-I—a-again-“ You gasp out against Wyll’s mouth, unable to form real words due to your proximity to another climax. 

“I know, me too…” Wyll grunts as he humps harder into you, his grip on your thighs now bruising. “Cum with me…” 

“F-fill me, please!” You cry out as you peak, needing to feel him shoot his release deep inside your womb. “Ah!” Tears of pleasure splatter from your rapidly blinking lashes as your cunt spasms harshly around Wyll’s cock. 

“You’re mine…” You hear Wyll growl before a particularly powerful thrust of his hips into yours. You sigh as you feel the twitches of release inside of your walls. Wyll’s groans turn to whines as he finishes spending himself inside of you. He stills for a moment then releases your legs. He pulls out of your still-clenching hole softly before collapsing at your side breathlessly. Cum seeps from your entrance, messing the sheets beneath you. 

“I didn’t think you had it in you.” You jest as you curl yourself into Wyll’s heaving chest. “That was… incredible.” You look up at him with a soft smile. 

“It was, wasn’t it?” He returns the smile and cards his fingers through your hair, pushing back your mussed strands so he could get a better look at you in your post-coital daze. He kisses your lips gently. “Now are you done riling me up like that?” He asks. 

“If it brings out that side of you… I can’t make any promises.” You smirk as you hook your leg over his hip, bringing you even closer together. “Where does a Grand Duke’s son learn to talk like that?” You muse, trailing his chiseled jaw with your pointer finger. 

“From a certain ill-intended vampire.” He admits. 

“Gods, why didn’t I put it together sooner!” You laugh, kissing Wyll’s nose affectionately. “Remind me to thank him later.” 

“I don’t think we need to inflate his ego any further…” Wyll says with a grin. He runs his thumb along your bottom lip. “Now… how would you feel about being a Grand Duchess?”

— — — 

a/n - THIS IS MY WYLL MAGNUM OPUS BYE MOM I LOVE HIM

[hard-core-super-star]

a kiss to every scar [H.Steinfeld]

pairing: servicetop!hailee steinfeld x [inexperienced] bottom!reader

summary: hailee sets out to show you the ropes of acting on a tv show...unfortunately, your very obvious crush on her distracts her enough to stop being so professional.

warnings: smut -> no minors allowed [this is technically porn with plot but the plot isn't important; fingering [R receiving]; praise + petnames; needy hailee [yes, this deserves a warning]; technically public sex but not really [aka sex in hailee's trailer but she forgets to lock the door]; hailee being overly protective but also very horny; R is technically younger than hailee but the age gap isn't that important, the height gap is though :) [sorry to my tall peeps]]

wordcount: 2.4k

a/n: this request comes to you straight from our beloved 🧞‍♀️ anon! i tried to balance the fluff and the smut but well...you already know i always end up getting carried away. i TRIED, though. i'm going to make an announcement soon regarding writing hailee so stay tuned for that because it's going to be important. anywho, hope you enjoy <3

* * * * * * *

You’re no stranger to surreal experiences. 

It seems like your entire life ever since being cast in your first TV role has been a series of unbelievable experiences after the other. Most of said experiences have been due to the overall excitement that comes with learning lines, going to outfit fittings, and talking through scenes with amazing directors and producers. 

However, the biggest, most surreal, of all the amazing things you’ve done has been meeting, working, and getting to know Hailee Steinfeld herself. The reasons for that are endless since you’re not only a genuine fan of her but you also have a not-so-small crush on her.

A crush that has thankfully managed to pass by undetected considering your overall awe at the work you get to do every day. It’s managed to be so undetected that you haven’t noticed how mutual the admiration that flows between the two of you actually is.

You’re not totally oblivious so you have picked up on some of the looks she sends your way and on the way she’s so adamant about helping you maneuver through the many obstacles that come with being on set all day. None of that seems like anything more than her being nice since you’re so new to a life that she’s lived for so long so you’ve never questioned it.

Plus, you like the feeling of her hand on your waist way more than you’re willing to admit to anyone. (Especially her)

Which is how you ended up getting talked into staying on set to watch Hailee finish her last scene of the day. It’s not something completely uncommon since you love watching her and the director in action but the brunette promised to buy you dinner afterward, something that’s never happened before. 

Your heart and mind have already made up more than enough excuses to overshadow the very clear intentions behind Hailee’s invitation but nothing can take away the pure joy you feel from being near her. 

A joy that draws in the actress like nothing else.

“What’d you think?” Hailee asks as she approaches you, her face lit up by a smile you know all too well.

“You’re incredible,” you reply the same way you always do and successfully draw a little chuckle out of her. “Seriously, I don’t know how you do it.”

“Practice…and way too much free time.”

She reaches a hand out to you, an unspoken question lingering in the air between you. You waste no time in taking her hand and letting her guide you toward her trailer so she can change back into her normal clothes. 

The walk is spent in the comfortable silence that always seems to follow the two of you and you pretend not to notice the way she keeps looking over at you with every few steps. You know exactly why her eyes keep shifting over to you but you can’t find it in yourself to be embarrassed about it. 

Despite how used to being on set you might be by now, you still admire each and every detail as if it was the first day again. Part of it comes from how unbelievable it all still is and another part of it comes from how cool everything is. There’s always so much to take in and it’s become a habit of yours to be present and grateful for every moment.

A habit that, unbeknownst to you, Hailee finds really adorable.

The list of things she likes about you is quite long but at the top of the list are your wide-eyed looks of wonder and the smile on your face nothing seems to wipe away.

It’s no secret that the brunette has taken a liking to you, especially in her attempts to make sure nothing snuffs out the bright beams of sunlight you carry inside of yourself. She knows exactly what that’s like and she’d sooner lose her role as Kate Bishop than let you fall into any dark spirals.

“So…” She speaks up, gently pulling you closer to her side. “Did anything exciting happen besides watching me?”

Your cheeks flush at her words which makes her grin. “Sort of. Florence and I talked about walking around New York tomorrow since it’s just going to be you and Jeremy filming scenes.”

“Oh, yeah? Where are you thinking of going?” She leads you into her trailer while you launch into the specifics of all the places you want to visit and the things you want to see.

The brunette watches you intently, although her attention slips from the words you say to the genuine excitement your body language conveys. You’re too busy talking to notice the way she’s eying you or the way she keeps licking her lips.

You finish your explanation only to be met with complete silence and Hailee’s tall frame leaning comfortably against the door to her trailer. 

“Lee? Were you even listening?”

The tiniest of pouts tugs at your lips and the actress is quick to make her way over to you, completely forgetting about the unlocked door and her promise of taking you to dinner. “I’m sorry, baby, you’re just too cute, I got distracted.”

The “apology” makes your heart skip a couple of beats and you’re sure she notices your flustered state. “I guess that’s fine. I should probably go anyway so you can change.”

You look away from her and attempt to walk away but she stops you with a gentle hand on your shoulder. The contact makes you stiffen, not because it’s unwelcome but because it sends an overwhelming amount of feelings through your entire body. “You okay, y/n? I didn’t make you uncomfortable, did I?”

Your eyes remain locked on the ground below you as you shake your head. The lack of a verbal response only serves to worry the brunette further and her free hand quickly tilts your chin up until her warm eyes meet yours. 

She doesn’t say anything but the question on her face is obvious.

“I’m not uncomfortable,” you force yourself to answer. “I just…I think I like it too much.”

The concern in her eyes shifts to something else, something bordering on passion, but you’re far too embarrassed to question it. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to be nervous. I like you too.”

The words don’t fully register in your brain at first. Sure, you’ve lived through a lot of unbelievable moments but this is something right out of those dreams you can never tell a single soul about. 

“You…you what?”

Hailee chuckles, taking the smallest of steps forward so your bodies are practically touching. “I like you too, baby. I hate to break it to you but you’re not as subtle as you think.”

“Neither are you,” you blurt out.

She leans in a little and your eyes instantly drop down to her lips. “I know.”

Her whispered words are the only warning you have before she claims your mouth with her own. Whatever shock you feel fades away almost instantly and you can’t stop yourself from wrapping your arms around her and pulling her closer.

You’re so caught up in her kiss that you don’t fully register the way she gently pushes you up against the nearest wall and presses herself as close to you as physically possible. You don’t register anything besides the feeling of her lips and the way your hands tangle in her hair so easily.

Hailee’s not as zoned out as you are, though, and her ears pick up on the muffled sounds trying to escape you. She instantly pulls away from you, staring down at you with blown-out pupils. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” you reply breathlessly. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Your response doesn’t seem to convince her but at least she doesn’t notice the way you’re clenching your thighs together. “We can stop if you want, I’m not looking for a one-night stand or anything.”

The sincerity in her voice is almost too much to handle and the truth slips out of your lips before you can stop it. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”

She blinks a few times and you practically watch as the wheels turn inside her brain. “You’ve never…oh. Oh, wow.”

Her response isn’t bad but it leaves you flustered all the same so you lean forward and hide your face in her shoulder. “Hailee…”

“Hey, hey, look at me, baby.”

A few seconds pass before you follow her instructions and she instantly melts your worries away with a soft kiss. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. It’s cute.”

“It’s cute that I have no idea what I’m doing?” You question.

“Yeah, it just means I’ll have to show you. I mean, um…if you want, of course. There’s no rush.”

All you can do is stare up at her while you think things over. There’s no denying how nervous you are but you trust Hailee more than anyone you’ve ever met before. So, maybe it’s time to take a small leap of faith with her.

“Okay,” you whisper. “I want this. I want you.”

The brunette groans in response and the sound goes straight to the growing heat between your legs. She wastes no time in attaching herself to your neck, kissing and sucking every inch she can find.

The sensation is so pleasurable, it borders on overwhelming and your hands grip her shoulders in search of the stability you lost the day you met her.

“You're so pretty,” she murmurs against your skin. “You don't know how long I’ve wanted you for.”

“Hailee-” You gasp as her hands find their way under your shirt.

“I know, let me make you feel good, sweetheart. Can I?”

The answer is more than obvious but you find yourself nodding desperately anyway. You know deep down everything about what you're doing is desperate and yet you can't find it in yourself to want to stop. Maybe it's unconventional but you don't need anything more than the brunette to make your first time unforgettable.

Hailee detaches herself from you long enough to help you shed your shirt, her eyes swooping down to take in every inch of you. Your knees buckle under her gaze and all she does is grin. “You're fucking perfect, baby.”

The words themselves are enough to make you burn a few degrees hotter but then her hands are removing your bra and you're quickly standing topless in front of her appreciative eyes.

Her fingers soon follow the path her eyes trace and you shudder in ways you can't describe. Her thumbs gently rub against your nipples, your back arching almost instantly as you turn into putty in her hands.

“Does that feel good, darling?” All you can offer is a moan and she chuckles. “Gonna need some words.”

“Yes. Feels so fucking good.”

“There you go,” she murmurs, swooping in to litter kisses along your jawline. “Good girl.”

She pinches your nipples right as the words escape her lips and you're sure you almost pass out from the pleasure. “Oh- please.”

“Begging already?” Despite her question, one of her hands leaves your sensitive nipples to trail down the front of your body. “Do you think you're wet enough for me to touch you yet?”

You hum in response and attempt to keep your hips under control. “So wet for you.”

“Look at you,” she coos while her hand slips under the waistband of both your jeans and your underwear. “You’re already an expert at getting what you want from me.”

“Lee,” you whine. “Don’t tease, babe.”

“I’m sorry, you're just so cute like this.” She rests her forehead against yours, everything about her seemingly cool and collected while you're burning up and panting. “We’ll take it slow, okay? Tell me if it hurts too much.”

Your inexperience leaves you a little clueless…until she starts to slip one finger inside your tight cunt. You gasp almost instantly, your body tensing at the intrusion.

“Relax, baby. I've got you.”

It's hard to fully relax but Hailee does her best to keep you distracted by murmuring soft praises and keeping up her gentle touches to your breasts. The full length of her finger sinks inside and she gives you a moment to breathe and adjust.

“How’re you feeling?” She asks, warm eyes searching your face for signs of unease or pain.

“Full,” you mumble with a smile.

She lets out a sound somewhere between a moan and a whine. “Fuck. That's so hot.”

The brunette leans in to kiss you before you can reply and you happily melt into the contact. You don't realize it’s yet another loving distraction until she starts to slowly pump her finger in and out of you.

You moan against her lips, the sound coming out muffled but no less desperate. Your walls clench almost uncontrollably with every move she makes which only fuels her need to pleasure you.

“You're doing so well for me,” she mumbles. “Taking me so well, aren't you, baby?”

Her words cause an unfamiliar feeling to start to rise from deep within you that only gets stronger once her thumb finds your sensitive clit. Your hips buck into her hand and she ends up burying her face into your neck to stop herself from getting too wild.

She somehow manages to keep her slow pace, fucking you nice and gentle to build up your orgasm and prolong your pleasure. At the end of the day, all she wants is to keep you happy.

“You’re so close, aren't you, sweetheart? I can feel it, the way you can’t stop clenching around me. God, it makes me so wet.”

You don't know what triggers it, maybe it's her words or her thrusts or the tight circles around your clit, but you fall over the edge instantly with a cry so loud, she has to kiss you to drown it out.

It’s impossible to describe how you feel. It's like you're floating and underwater and in the heart of the sun all at the same time. All you know is you've never felt pleasure like this and it's all thanks to Hailee freaking Steinfeld.

Hailee holds you close until your body stops shaking and you slump forward into her. “Hey, welcome back, y/n.”

“Shut up,” you mumble, every muscle in your body feeling absolutely spent yet satisfied.

She doesn't reply. She merely removes her hand from your sensitive center and kisses the side of your head.

“So…are you still up for dinner or…?”

“You're the worst.”

[onceuponastory]

twelve minutes - bucky barnes x reader

But for now we stay so far 'Til our lonely limbs collide I can't keep you in these arms So I'll keep you in my mind - you and i by PVRIS

Plot: Almost a year after their breakup, Y/N sees Bucky Barnes again. Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader (past) Warnings: Mentions of a breakup and heartbreak, angst without a happy ending. Bucky being a shitty boyfriend. As always, if I miss any triggers, please let me know! Notes: So You and I by PVRIS, one of my favourite songs ever, turned 8 on Friday, and I had to write another fic for it to celebrate (please ignore I'm a few days late) so here we are!

Not beta'd, so any mistakes are my own.

One night, Y/N stands outside the Avengers tower in the cold New York air. A chilly wind blows, and she shivers. She can still hear the party inside, the muffled music and laughter. Maybe she should just go inside? Isn't that better than being out here, alone and in the cold? 

But just as she’s about to turn back, she shakes her head. She didn’t even want to come tonight. Although the Avengers are still her friends, a party attended by her ex, Bucky Barnes, was not the ideal way to spend her night. But Natasha whined and begged for her to come, promising her she’d have a good time and it wouldn’t be that awkward. Unfortunately, it was just as awkward as Y/N expected. In fact, it was worse.

Sure, people still spoke to her, but she could tell they all had one question on their lips, one she was not willing to answer: "So, when are you and Bucky getting back together?"

And so, Y/N left. She types on her phone, ordering an Uber to take her home. Sighing, she wraps her jacket around herself as another chilly wind blows. Soon, she’ll be home and can eat her sorrows in ice cream. 

“Leaving so soon?” A familiar voice asks. One that Y/N was hoping not to hear tonight. 

“Hey Bucky.” He looks different from the last time she saw him, almost a year ago, now. Just over ten months, in fact. Not that she’s counting or anything. He’s bulkier, no doubt an effect of Steve’s constant early morning runs. Each time he left their bed, he promised to come back, kissing her cheek softly. Even now, her skin tingles just thinking about it. Bucky smiles, brushing some of his longer hair out of his face. 

He looks good. 

He looks great, actually. She can’t deny it - he still looks as attractive ever. Deep down, something registers in her gut. It’s a strong, passionate longing feeling, the same one she used to have whenever she thought of Bucky. One that she thought disappeared a long time ago. But seeing him now is reigniting that feeling. Desperately, she tries to bury it.

“Good to see you again.” He murmurs, a sign that he’s feeling just as awkward as she is. After all, how often do you run into your ex at a party you didn’t even want to go to? “Nat never said you were coming.” He looks around, a brow raised. “Where’s that boyfriend of yours? She said he’s a lawyer.” Of course she fucking did. She’s going to kill her next time she sees her. “Can’t imagine he’d pass up a moment to spend time with you.”

“We um. We broke up. Well, he dumped me for his secretary, actually. So… yeah.” She’s immediately embarrassed, not meaning to spill her heartbreak to anyone, let alone Bucky fucking Barnes, her ex of all people. Honestly, part of her reasoning for coming tonight and hopefully dragging Harry along with her was to make Bucky jealous, show him that their breakup wasn’t affecting her that badly. 

And look how well that turned out. 

But her wounds are still raw. Perhaps, after suppressing her feelings for so long, she simply needed to release and express her frustration and pain to someone. And Bucky just happens to be the one she’s letting it out to, the welcome respite she’s needed for so long. That's how things used to be between them. Whenever something was wrong, Y/N and Bucky relied on each other for comfort. They would spend hours in each other’s arms, talking about their problems until they felt better. Y/N still aches for that comforting grasp, even now.

But now, things are different. Including her and Bucky.

Especially her and Bucky.

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” He sighs. “I’ve fucked up, haven’t I?” 

“It’s okay.” She lies, but knows that if she dwells on it too long, she’ll start sobbing in front of him. Her chest tightens in an all too familiar way. This is what people like Bucky Barnes do. They come into your life and leave a mark. Once they’re gone, you work so hard to heal yourself and make a new life, and then they come back in and destroy everything all over again. And she won’t put herself through that again.

“Looking back on it now, we just weren’t a good fit. Or at least, he didn’t like me as much as I liked him.” The heat on her cheeks deepens, as if she’s embarrassed to admit falling in love with and getting her heart broken by someone like her ex. To admit that she subjected herself to so much pain and heartbreak yet again. But thankfully, Bucky doesn’t mention it. 

“Honestly, it’s his loss. You deserve better.”

“Thanks.” And again, silence envelops them. She wonders if he’ll start talking about their breakup, or continue ignoring the enormous elephant in the room. And honestly…. she doesn’t know which she’d rather have. To lay everything out in the open, or just ignore it all again, pretending everything is fine. When her eyes drift back to him, he’s not looking at her anymore, and despite how angry she was at Bucky for what happened, and how much she likes to kid herself that she doesn’t care about Bucky anymore, it still stings.

Deep down, she wants him to want her, like she wants him. To still want her, even now.

“Can we talk?” He asks suddenly. She already hates the idea of being forced to spend time with another ex so soon after losing another relationship, but there’s not much else she can do. And honestly…. She misses Bucky a lot.

“Sure. You have….” she peers down at her phone screen, the light illuminating the space. “Twelve minutes.” Bucky raises a brow.

“Twelve? That’s very… specific.” He chuckles awkwardly. Y/N doesn’t laugh. 

“It’s how long until my Uber arrives.” 

“Oh.” There’s disappointment lacing his tone, which Y/N picks up on. She stares at him, waiting for his response. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what happened between us.” 

“Okay. Me too.” She nods. Bucky raises a brow. 

“...That’s it? Y-You’re not going to say anything?”

“What can I say? You said that you’re sorry for how it ended, and so am I.” She shrugs. “There’s no point in beating ourselves up, Bucky. We just never worked out. You were always too busy, and after a while I just stopped waiting for you. The fights got too much, and we just stopped loving one another.” Honestly, she never stopped loving him. But it’s better to lie and tell him that the feeling is mutual than waste all her tears on someone who actually stopped loving her. She stopped being important to him and was no longer the key priority in his life. Missions were his priority, followed by dinners, drinks, and world trips with teammates - things she stopped being invited to. As an Avenger, he can't refuse to save the world, but she thought she mattered to him. Realising she didn't hurt her deeply.

So one day, she decided enough was enough, and… it was over. And she’s missed him terribly since then.

“You really think I stopped loving you?” Bucky frowns. There’s a strange mix of guilt and accusation in his tone. Y/N nods. “Well, I didn’t. I never stopped.”

Y/N gasps, and his revelation makes her heart pound. What if this is a good sign? A chance for them to make things right? “I thought you did. I thought you stopped caring.” For a moment, she wonders how he’ll react, if he’ll take her into his arms again, and whisper sweet nothings. Maybe they’ll finally make things right.

Instead, he turns defensive. “I didn’t. And it’s not all my fault, you know. I did try to make it home to you, but you didn’t understand how busy I was sometimes.” He snaps, sending a fresh strike of pain through her already damaged heart and destroying all hope she ever had of them rekindling their relationship.. 

“You had a funny way of showing it.” She retorts, rolling her eyes. Anger flows through her veins, overtaking her last shred of guilt. Why is it her who has to fix things first? To be the villain, the one who has to admit that they’re in the wrong? Angry and bitter tears sting at her eyes. “But yeah, whatever. It’s my fault our relationship fell apart.”

Immediately, Bucky regrets his words. “Look, that’s not what I meant. I’m sorry.” He hates that this is what they’ve come to now, unable to speak to one another without anger, bitterness and hurt feelings. But maybe this is a chance to make things right? A whole twelve…well, probably ten minutes, now. “And I’m sorry if it seemed I wasn’t trying hard enough. I loved you a lot.” He sighs. “I still do.”

“I never stopped either.” She admits, and Bucky’s eyes widen.

“Really?” He gasps. “W-Well, do you wanna get a drink somewhere? Or some dinner?”

“Wait.” She raises a hand, cutting him off. She sighs. “Not tonight.”

“Tomorrow? I’ll wait. We can go whenever you want.” He urges. But Y/N just can’t ignore the feeling deep inside her, of guilt and apprehension. What if she lets him back in and it happens all over again? If she gives him all of her heart and gets it back broken, yet again? She’s already been through two heartbreaks in this lifetime, and she can’t go through that pain again.

Especially not one caused by Bucky. 

“I’m sorry. I can’t.” She whispers, biting her bottom lip. Bucky frowns, confused.

“What do you mean? W-Why not?”

“Because I can’t do this again.” She whimpers, her voice cracking. “Our break up destroyed me, and I’ve just been through another one. Another break up between us would actually finish me off.” She shakes her head. “Maybe one day we can talk…but not now.”

Bucky opens his mouth, ready to speak. But he nods. “I understand.” He sighs. He keeps his gaze on her, his blue eyes imploring and hopeful. Suddenly, the sound of an engine approaches. Y/N sighs. “Guess my twelve minutes are up.” Bucky chuckles nervously.

“Goodnight Bucky.” She says, getting into the car and closing the door. He watches her go, looking crestfallen. She looks out of the window, locking eyes with him.

“You okay?” The driver asks. “Need a minute?” Y/N’s heart aches, and her chest aches. 

“No.” she murmurs. “You can keep driving.” And then they pull away, and Bucky fades into the distance.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Please follow @onceuponastory-library and turn on notifications to be notified when I next post!

[amusingmusie]

Hi

I'm not going to be updating this week. I'm overwhelmed right now and need a quick break. This isn't a hiatus. The update will be soon, but when I'm ready. I know you guys want an update and I'm flattered people are invested in this, but blowing up my inbox on anon (there are many examples of this I have not responded to because I didn't want to engage with them) isn't going to make me write faster. I work and have a life. If you are that desperate to demand I post a new chapter, you can pay me real US dollars for it. Writing isn't easy, especially when my chapters are landing between 6k-9k words nowadays and I have to edit.

There have also been comments popping up on ao3 complaining about aspects of my fic that are clearly tagged. I get it, it's not everyone's cup of tea. It's got a lot of moving parts, it has other characters besides Al and Reader, I've got an insert with race/gender descriptors (which I would not be using if my fic didn't take place in Jim Crow era NOLA with heavy sexism in the mix, race is a big factor of my story, I chose to explore a mixed race relationship, it will have an actual impact on the plot, I didn't throw it in there because I'm an asshole).

That being said, if I have something specifically tagged and you don't like it, don't click on my work. If you don't like my fic then don't read it. I'm going to begin blocking people at this point. I'm not above criticism. I am above people feeling entitled to complain about something they were warned about then turning it on me.

I'm not saying this for anyone to come kiss my butt, I don't want or need that. I'm only being honest about why I need a few days away. I do this for free and because I enjoy doing this. I shouldn't be crying because I'm so stressed over a fanfic. So, before I fizzle out again, I'm stepping away. I may upload other pieces I've been working on or I may go silent. I've got a Huskerdust piece I'm having a lot of fun with. Either way, I'm gonna do what makes me happy and I'll be back with an update later in the month.

If this sounds like I'm yelling at you, that's not my intention. I am just so tired and done with not saying anything. To the pookers that are very kind and supportive, thank you so much. To the asks in my inbox, I promise I will be getting to you guys when I'm back and thank you for engaging with me. I don't want to act like I don't have awesome people in my circle or it's all doom and gloom. This has been boiling and finally reached a head tonight. I will be okay. I just need a minute.

See you soon,

-Muse

[confusedshades]

well now you gotta write it-

@deepwithintheabyss why. Just why. Please don't curse me with more plot bunnies. I'm drowning as it is. You know what, here's an off the cuff snippet.

Luke looked up when the bell rang. And then stared because the only person who usually came in around this time of day was Jessica. The man wearing a red and black leather mask, a German milkmaid outfit, with katanas and guns was most definitely not Jessica. Nor was the man wearing a shiny metal knock off Iron Man helmet who followed after. The last person who walked in wasn't legal by any stretch, but the thousand yard stare that took in the details of everything gave away the fact that at least they were definitely a vigilante of some sort. And probably had been a while.

Luke looked back to the first person and sighed. "Deadpool, you know the rules. No weapons in my bar."

"Aww don't be like that Luke!" Wade twirled his way to the bar before propping his head up on his hands. "These two needed some defenders and I couldn't think of a better place!"

"For the last time. I don't need any defender. What I need is to get back so I can finish my own business." Luke blinked at the knock off Iron Man helmet. It seemed it wasn't just a knock off helmet. The vocoder voice that emanated meant there was probably some tech built in there.

A scoff had Luke - and knock off Iron Man - turning to the last person. "Speak for yourself Hood. Unless you want some more duffle bags to fill, your plan isn't going to go anywhere. Trust me I lived through it. I actually have a time constraint on my agenda."

Looked like those two knew each other. To an extent. Something was still off though. The kid didn't turn his back towards anyone, in fact he had it turned to a corner - away from the doors and windows. Luke frowned as the second man, Hood, turned with what was supposed to be a snarl on the third man.

"Just because you survived doesn't mean shit Robin." he sneered. The kid twitched though whether at the name or the tone Luke wasn't sure. "My fight is with Bats and his incompetence to change the status quo. But from the looks of things, it looks like he abandoned you too. Sucks being on the outside, doesn't it?"

The kid twitched again, and pressed his lips together.

Deadpool slapped his hands to his face without moving from his spot on the bar. "Gasp! It can't be! Inter dimensional and time travelling shenanigans meet Daddy issues!" He jumped between the two people who had frozen at this declaration and smooshed both their faces into his chest - just where the barmaid costume's corset would've created breasts Luke noted in amusement.

"I can be your new Daddy if you want! I even promise to listen carefully and pay for things if you want! Oh! Oh! Luke! Play some Daddy Cool please! It'll be most appropriate for this! We can start this off with a theme!"

Luke just laughed at the equally horrified and shocked expressions on Hood and Robin's faces and turned to find glasses. He had a feeling the two would be needing drinks soon.

[true-blue-sonic]

Would you tell us more about Run To You? :3

Gladly! :> I've been wrangling chapters left and right, the layout has been changing endlessly... but when something works, it works. Once I've perfected the idea of how things should go, I don't need to change it so radically, because it's just right! And it is very nice to realise that slowly but surely, the pieces are falling into place and I'm shaping up what I want to write towards more and more🍀 As for when I want to publish it, I don't know; I'm avoiding the first two chapters, which aren't yet finished at all, like the plague. But I do want it to be soon, to be honest! I'll be graduating in like a month, I hope, and I really want to take the time to focus on a fic and get a ball rolling!! Something to keep me going through the agony of job hunting, because I work best when I am procrastinating on something else XD

As for a snippet: I resolved a big struggle which was also a plot hole through Silver's honesty, and I found it honestly a pretty neat idea of myself. I'll put it under a read more, because it's quite long ^-^ But I'm proud of it, because it made a really nice and in-character solution to a problem I had, I feel like!

☆☆☆☆☆

Green eyes twinkled mischievously as Silver sent them a dry look back. But Sonic’s smile was warm still, his hands digging onto the grass as he leaned backwards. “Then I won’t pry. What about GUN?”

“The army? Certainly. They’re on the news sometimes, with a lot of propaganda about how they’re keeping us safe and stuff. They’re doing a really bad job at it, though.”

That earned Silver a laugh. A full laugh, Sonic’s head tipping backwards and his eyes shutting. Silver couldn’t tear his gaze away from it: people didn’t laugh at what he said, usually, or at least not in a way that looked like they thought it was… funny?

But not bad funny.

“That sounds just like the past,” Sonic winked at him.

“Yeah, well… I guess. They’re… working on it, but not very well. They’ve never managed to capture that man in full.” Which promptly made Silver grouse, his eyes narrowing. How idiotic could GUN be, letting Eggman Nega escape even after Silver handed them the card that evil scientist was trapped in for safekeeping? At the very least they’d helped him go to the past again to chase after him anew. It was little to repent for their stupidity, but they also could not have helped, and the world would have been overrun by the Ifrit then.

Which did make him wonder… “GUN used to have two Emeralds, actually. But they don’t anymore,” the psychic mused.

An inquiring look got sent his way at that. “How do you know?”

“It’s because of those two Emeralds that I travelled to the past the second time- the first time was on Onyx Island. But the second time, Eggman Nega was already gone and things were a lot in disarray, so GUN found two Emeralds and used them with me for Chaos Control.”

“Yes, but why did they lose them?”

“Oh! I asked them what they were going to do with the Emeralds after sending me to the past, and they said they’d send them on their way too. Swore it, even.”

Sonic’s lips twitched again. “And did they do that?”

“Yes, of course! They promised it.”

“Because I don’t think any promise made by the army can be counted on to be followed.”

“But they said they were going to do it,” Silver insisted.

“Did you see them do it?”

“No. I had already jumped in the portal.”

“And did they reach out to you afterwards about it?”

“…No. But-!”

“GUN is not a group that’ll follow their word if that is less convenient for them, Silver,” Sonic gently spoke up. “I’ll betcha those Emeralds are both safely tucked away in their headquarters, for them to use again whenever they see fit.”

With a grumble Silver crossed his arms. “I hope not for their sake, because you don’t want to know the things I’ll do to them when I found out they lied.”

“You know,” Sonic grinned, “I think I’ll be seeing that with my own eyes really soon.”

His hand got extended to Silver again.

Curiously Silver regarded it. “In what way?”

“Because we’re going base-hunting. This sounds like our best lead to look into,” got winked at him, Sonic’s fingers splaying as he stretched them out a bit more. With a frown Silver studied his own hand, mind whirring… But yes, he did have to agree with Sonic that the people he’d been talking to had been rather disingenuous about the fate of the Emeralds.

In one fell swoop, their hands clasped, and Silver’s brow furrowed into the most focused of frowns as he shot Sonic a nod.

“Let’s go.”

[darthgloris]

Our Padawan II

Pairing: Anakin Skywalker x fem!Jedi!reader

A/N: inspired by the last fic (and by my undying love of The Lion King), here comes the heartbreaking sequel! This actually started out as a scenario that I replay in my head when I'm bored and now I'm finally writing it down! Enjoy

Warnings: angst, family dynamic, platonic!Ahsoka x reader, heartbreak, sadness, death

Summary: The trio's next mission is on Anakin's home planet, Tatooine. In a moment of free time, Ahsoka is practicing her lightsaber skills on her own, while Y/N and Anakin spend some alone time together. The Padawan's training routine is interrupted by a Sith plot, and when her Masters run to rescue her again, something goes terribly wrong.

Song: Stampede - Hans Zimmer

Our Padawan // Our Padawan III

☆☆☆

"The mission is finally over," Y/N spoke, stretching her arms as she looked out at the sandy Tatooine landscape. "I'm way too tired to go back right now."

"Well, how about we take a break here?" Anakin suggested. "We could leave in a few hours."

"That sounds great," she grinned at her boyfriend, knowing exactly what he planned on doing. "Ahsoka, are you tired?"

"Nope." She quipped. Her energetic nature never seemed to falter.

Anakin chuckled, expecting the answer. "Then go practice. Maybe one day you'll actually beat me with a lightsaber."

"Show-off." Y/N muttered fondly, rolling her eyes with a small smile.

"All right." Ahsoka beamed, walking away.

"Don't wander too far away, Padawan." She called as the young girl turned around to leave.

"Okay. I'll see you guys later." She said and began to walk away.

"Hold on there, Snips. Aren't you forgetting something?" Anakin asked with a soft smile.

"Oh, yeah!" She exclaimed and ran back to hug him. He smiled down at her as she clutched onto his robes, chuckling softly.

Then she rushed over to Y/N, who was already sitting on a picnic towel. Ahsoka, who was now taller than her Master, rested her cheek on her head during the embrace.

"You run along now and go train." She smiled as the girl grabbed her lightsabers and walked away.

Anakin walked over to the towel and plopped down next to her. With a small grunt, he pulled Y/N onto his lap and laughed when she squeaked in surprise. She adjusted her position before pressing a few open-mouthed kisses to his lips. She looked into his big, blue eyes and smiled softly, her mind wandering as she lovingly traced his scar with her delicate fingertips.

"Hey," he said softly, diverting her attention back to his eyes. His sincere, sweet eyes. "She's going to be fine."

"I know. I just... can't seem to get it out of my head. I had never been so scared in my entire life." She replied sincerely.

"I get that. But she promised us she'd be careful. And I promised you a nice trip, so..." he said, pulling his hands off her waist to gesture at himself. "Here's the highlight of the day."

She laughed at his antics before giving him another kiss, this time sinking into him as they both slowly fell on the floor.

...

Ahsoka turned off her lightsabers with a huff, resting them on the ground before sitting down. She wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead and sighed, resting under a tree's shade.

The Padawan frowned when she heard a rumbling coming from the distance.

The ground began to shake and a few pebbles moved, as she looked up to the cliffs, and a gigantic herd of Banthas descended into the gorge at a speed she thought impossible.

She gasped, her body nearly frozen by fear.

Before they could trample her, she stumbled onto her feet and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her, and whimpered in fear whenever they seemed to be close enough to step on her.

She almost tripped over her feet as the sand filled her airways, delaying her fight-or-flight response.

...

Y/N laid in Anakin's arms, her head on his bare chest as she heard the commotion. She sat up and gazed at the gorge in confusion. Anakin soon followed and, with a small huff, tried to see what was going on.

"What's happening down there?" Rex wondered out loud, approaching the couple.

"I have no idea." Anakin said.

R2-D2 beeped repeatedly. There's a stampede in the gorge. Ahsoka's down there.

The Jedi Masters immediately looked at each other in horror.

"Ahsoka!"

...

The girl's heavy breath mixed with whines of worry and small sobs of fear.

Once in a while she looked back to see how close they were, and every time it looked like they were closer and closer to trampling her dead.

She caught sight of a dying tree and immediately leapt on it, clutching onto the thickest branch as if her life depended on it.

Because it did.

...

Y/N never remembered running this fast, ever. Her heart thrummed with adrenaline as Anakin dropped his robes to the ground while he ran.

Rex rushed ahead and took as much care as possible to run through the cliffs without falling, looking out that gorge for the Padawan.

"Rex, help me!"

His ears perked up as he saw the young girl struggling to hold onto the tree, her grip faltering by the second. She tried to wrap her legs around the branch but failed almost every time, only succeeding in slipping off further. "Your Masters are on the way! Hold on!"

"Hurry!" She cried.

The Jedi ran over to a ridge and fearfully inspected the area. Rex came back and pointed to a spot further away, while they craned their necks to try to find her. "There, on that tree!"

Y/N gasped as she saw her Padawan on the verge of falling off. "Hold on, Ahsoka!"

The scream she got in reply was enough. She jumped off the ridge and onto a smaller one. Anakin grasped her arm and gave her a pleading look. She got on her tiptoes and kissed his lips quickly, letting out a small "I love you" before jumping in between the Banthas.

Anakin gasped and leaned over the ridge as much as he could, supervising his girlfriend's moves. "Rex, go back to the ship! Comm Obi-Wan and report the situation!"

"Yes, General Skywalker!"

He looked back to the scene as Y/N ran past the tree, where Ahsoka was hanging desperately, using every bit of strength she had left to not let go. She then turned on her heels and, between the rumbling and the sandy clouds rapidly forming, went back in the direction of a tree.

She tripped on a small rock and dropped to the ground with a groan, then shook her head and looked up as a Bantha broke the tree, sending the girl into the air with a scream. She gasped and jumped to catch her in her arms, holding onto her tightly as she tried to beeline back to safety. She bumped into another Bantha and fell to the ground, dropping Ahsoka.

The Padawan opened her eyes and whimpered as she tried to avoid the running animals, moving and flinching whenever one ran past her. She looked back and caught sight of Y/N and felt something grab her as she closed her eyes, wishing it could all go away.

The Jedi Master avoided the Banthas and with a few hops, grabbed onto the ridge with one arm and set Ahsoka down next to Anakin with the other. She began to sigh with relief, when suddenly she was pulled back into the stampede.

"Y/N!"

"Master!"

Their fearful eyes combed through the herd, looking for their companion amidst the chaos. As after a few second passed and nothing happened, Anakin began to tremble at the thought of having lost her, while Ahsoka's eyes desperately scoured the zone.

A flash of off-white robes sprung out from the clouds of sand and grasped onto the rocky cliffs, now too tired to use the Force, and used whatever small ledge possible to climb up. Anakin felt himself relax almost entirely as he held his Padawan protectively in his arms, relieved that it was almost over.

"Come on, Snips, let's go help her up." He said and hopped on the bigger rocks, Ahsoka following suit.

With a tired grunt, Y/N clutched onto whatever rock she could, now grasping onto the edge of the precipice; her feet began to slip as she looked for any room to lean on and climb up. As a shadow approached, she looked up in relief, hoping to see Anakin.

"Dooku?" She panted, outraged. "This was- mphh - you..."

The Sith didn't answer, just stepped on her fingers, making her groan in pain. "Chancellor Palpatine sends his regards." He kicked her hands off the edge.

She screamed out as she fell through thin air.

"NO!"

[qballqueue]

Bloomburrow's story is good

Having just binged the audio version of the Bloomburrow story, I can say with genuine surprise that I actually enjoyed it a lot??? I'm stunned, legitimately, that it actually delivered.

For context, I'm not an avid reader of the Magic story. It had been so reinforced from community consensus--as well as my own experience--that the story for each set was largely lacklustre, existing mostly so people could see what their favourite blorbos were up to instead of actual entertainment, that I hardly bothered reading them and stuck to story recaps on Youtube. It had always seemed to be a better use of my time.

This was echoed by my reading of the Thunder Junction story. I loved the idea of Magic Cowboys, so I actually dove in to read this one as it was being released, and it was meh at best. It was a story where most of the characters were reappearing ones instead of new, almost none of whom felt they had any reason or motivation for wanting to be there. And the climax largely centred on a cliffhanger, which left a lot of narrative tension feeling unresolved.

(For the record, absolutely no shade thrown towards author of the OTJ story articles, Akemi Dawn Bowman. I found the actually writing to be enjoyable, and I'm 80% sure most of my issues with the narrative were mandated to be there)

I went into Bloomburrow expecting more of the same, honestly. I only really started it because I needed something to listen to, but, like, holy shit. We have a mostly original cast that's simple but fun. We have a plot that's almost entirely self-contained, with no larger narrative implications so it's just allowed to be itself. We actually only have one reappearing character who joins in on the current story instead of taking it over. It's just a short, pleasant ride you can finish in an afternoon.

I do have some issues. For starters, the prophecy that happens at the end felt like a shoe-horned in way to remind people that there's supposed to be an over-arching plot. I do prefer it to the 'something interesting is going to happen soon, we promise' form of storytelling longer narratives often fall prey to, which MtG's story often does, but I would just as soon do without an over-arching story at all if I'm being honest.

The pacing also felt a bit rushed. By the time we get to chapter five, it feels like we're only at the middle of the story, but then the antagonist's introduction, their explanation, a couple climatic battles, and the ending happen all at once. It felt like I had skipped something, but this feels more like an issue with WotC only allowing five chapters per set and one set per plane.

Speaking of which, if the quality of the Bloomburrow story is doing anything, it's highlighting how shitty it is that each plane only gets one set worth of story before we have to leave again. I liked the story, so it's a shame that as soon as the set arrives it'll be gone for a while; WotC almost assuredly has the next year-or-so's worth of sets planned out already, so if there ever is more Bloomburrow story it'll be way in the future, and not because someone decided to put faith in it--it'll be because it proved profitable enough for a revisit.

So, yeah. You know the drill: artistic integrity good, capitalism bad, etc., etc.. But I will say that I think these story articles are worth a look. Kudos to the author, Valerie Valdes, and the entire story team.

[octosan]

kfdgkfdkf okay I'll stop posting about it soon and then I'll go back to

Idk what do I even do on this blog, translyrics? game updates? hundreds of half-finished stuff in here... Maybe I'll post about Baldur's Gate or something. I definitely don't want this to be my first post forever because I'm already getting depressed writing it

Damn they really went on Reddit and said everything was fine and exactly according to plan huh. really just told us that this version of the game was what they wanted and was fine and they're not touching that story again but oooo there's so much left to tell! now that we've destroyed all of the plot threads of previous games there's so much story left to tell!

I don't even know what to say about all the times they said stuff that clearly was not in the game or the intention of the game.

an entire narrative of how heroic the crows are and how they're the only ones looking out for antiva, depicting caterina as a loving grandmother, a narrative where when someone points out how bad the crows are for antivan politics we are expected to understand that this person is the villain for saying these things, a sucking ABSENCE of any recognition that the crows as an organization have been cruel slave masters who abuse and mold their child acquisitions into assassins and kill the ones who fail, lore that was accurate even in the supplementary materials that teased this game, but no "it's very clear that the crows we meet are just idealists and the average antivan crow is more like illario, sorry, did that exchange not make it into the game...?"

I can't even find the words for how they talked about Solas and the way they retconned him and his agents and everything he cared about in the previous games. I was giving so much grace towards how Solas was done in this game. I liked every scene with him in it, "Mythal" stuff aside I think Weekes did an excellent job with his dialogue. I was perfectly happy telling myself that even if the game didn't touch on it, his agents might have been around trying to help people offscreen like he mentioned of his spirit allies. But no he cut them all loose because hedfkgdfkg suddenly remembered how much leadership sucks and he doesn't care about people. what was all that about "you're not ready for leadership and you have to sometimes make hard choices as a leader" when he was talking to rook then? dog you literally just bounced from all of your leadership responsibilities offscreen apparently

like epler said stuff that outright contradicted the actual game that they just made let alone the lore of previous games!

I can't dskfskdfkads I can't even imagine the gall of going on there and ignoring so many of the actual criticisms from fans who are going through the stages of grief, fans who were trying to do their damage control for them pointing out the game's hellish development cycle and how stacked the odds were against the devs, and how veilguard is only as good as it is because they fought so hard to get SOMETHING of substance into it.

to then say that this game is exactly what they wanted and they were happy with it. to say that they meant for the factions (and by extension Rivain itself) to be shafted. to imply that the "de-centralization of" morality and political conflict in this series (kudos to the fan that had that much tact because I don't think they would have answered it otherwise) was "what worked for the story" instead of being an absolute hindrance to it. Claiming that people "put their prejudices aside to fight the gods" when in fact that was never something they showcased in the game. to say that the only thing they fought for was meaningless crap like the Hall of Valor and the haunting sidequests. To say that you aren't able to have conversations with your companions because of tech limitations.

Tech limitations??

To make more false promises that the next game, who knows? maybe THAT game will have more interesting geo-political conflict now that the old storylines are gone. Maybe we'll see more of Tevinter in THAT game now that the more meaningful issues like slavery, classism, racism, the war with the Qunari, and abuse of blood magic are on their way out. Maybe THAT game will have more meaningful and unique romances in it. Maybe THAT game will include your more meaningful choices from the previous three games, now that their relevancy to the story and the fandom has been rendered at an all time low. Maybe THAT game will have returning characters from previous games, now that we've already introduced the likelihood that most of them are dead from old age and the Blight. Maybe THAT game will have interesting personal stories.

I saw nothing about how terrible the roleplaying in this game was either, though I'm sure they would once again go "maybe the NEXT game you'll be allowed to say an unkind thing sometimes." god that comment he made of like "maybe in the NEXT game you'll be allowed to be rivals with your companions, but it just didn't work for this story which is all about putting aside your differences to fight the elven gods :)"

I don't even know how to express all of it coherently.

it's not just that Veilguard wasn't good. it was not good. It had stuff that I liked, though. I ended the game trying to give it a bit of grace, especially because I can't even stomach playing a second run anymore so what do I know about what all is in this game? A lot of the lore reveals and developments (if not necessarily the ending) I felt like could have worked in a game that had time and good writing to accommodate it. The companions were good conceptually and had things that could have worked if given time to develop them into the trappings of previous lore. I told myself its biggest flaw was to not give a proper reckoning and development to these things built up by the previous games, not their inclusion at all.

even when there's stuff I didn't like about the visuals, like how completely non-mystical they made the Fade look in this game and how the elven empire is just fantasy sci-fi now, that wasn't a huge deal to me because every dragon age game has cycled through different aesthetics and at this point you can pick and choose from the designs if you really want, like I've seen lovely fanart that gives Solas and other post-DA2 elven characters the nose ridges of that game for example. The artstyle didn't bother me that much.

But reading all of that from the AMA, I'm just.

Somewhere along the process the writers stopped caring about the things that longtime fans have loved and cared about and looked forward to for years. They stopped caring about it so much that they destroyed all of it to make something else. and then they turned around and told us all of that was intentional and exactly what they wanted to do. and then they tried to keep us on the hook anyway by saying that the next game might at least go into some of it. And it's very painful to know that this is how things are for a series I've loved and always come back to since I was a kid.

More power to the people who like Veilguard and like what the devs have said about it and the next game. But when DA5 comes out, I will not be buying it. I can't believe DA4 is the first game I've ever bought where I actually regret spending so much money on it in the first place, and I got the cheapest version of it.

[smt-obsessed]

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Heyy, so I wanna talk real quick.

I know not a lot of people will see this, or probably just not care, but I wanted to talk about it anyway.

So I recently had my first wellness checkup, and the doctor referred me to their counselor/therapist, after prescribing me zoloft (YAYAYAY), and oral contraceptive 🤭 It's to help me with a lot of things, but I was told that it could also help my motivation come back!

So, I'm gonna cross my fingers, toes, AND my titties that it works and that I can finally write for all of you.

I don't want to get all emotional, but these last few years have been hell for me. Physically, environmentally, and most of all, I've just been mentally drained for years. To be completely honest, I don't remember a time when I wasn't drained.

I feel terrible about it, too, because I made this blog, made it all cute SEVERAL fuckin' times, planned it all out and even got a few requests from people. (Which I can't explain, just HOW happy that makes me.)

But at the end of the day, I promised something and failed to deliver for... Almost 5 years, I think? 😭 But so many of you haven't given up on me. Most of my requests are from people who make it VERY CLEAR that they can wait and who are trying not to make me feel pressured!

I used to write years ago (It was on Wattpad, and I deleted it since 😭), but I loved it! I still love thinking about ideas, thinking of possible plot, planning it all out, and then making it all look nice in my drafts.

But the problem is that I don't actually write anything. I make it look nice (I add my template/introduction, some borders, and pictures), save, and then back out.

And I can't promise that I'm going to immediately start posting regularly, but after that zoloft kicks in after a couple of days, I am locking the fuck in and giving you guys anything you want for putting up with my bs for so long 😭

Again, I don't think people will read this but I wanted to give an explanation.

Love y'all! Talk to you soon, hopefully. ✌

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

[goddesspharo]

Ok so this isn’t really a question but I was thinking about possible plots for the third movie that have maximum phoenix and hangman (obviously) and I cannot shake the idea of a reunion of the daggers for some sort of secret mission

Now I know absolutely nothing about the navy but hear me out, the gang is called back in (hangman, rooster, payback, fanboy etc) after a plane went down in enemy territory and at the mission brief, it’s revealed, dun dun da da…. It was phoenix and Bob and there’s reason to believe they’re still out there

I have no idea if you’re open to prompt ideas so feel free to tell me to f all the way off but since they’ll probably never do something like that for the actual third movie, I figure the next best thing is the best fic rider for the ship

I’m sensing major opportunity for some Jake and Bradley begrudging partnership and fun dynamics all around

Thoughts?

Ooh, this kind of sounds like Stealth but not shitty. (Does anyone remember how they recut the trailers for that movie to heavily feature Jamie Foxx as soon as he won the Oscar despite him being in it for like 15 minutes? Lol)

I take all of the "we've got a timeline for Top Gun 3, etc etc" talk with a grain of salt because it took them like 30+ years to make the sequel -- everyone else might be all about franchises but I know Tom Cruise isn't going to churn out a legacy movie just to churn it out without a decent script or someone promising him that he can fly a plane inverted in space. As much as I love TGM, I don't see where they'd realistically go with a third movie (nor do I necessarily need them to? End on a high note I say). In the same way that Ethan Hunt is still very much front and center of the MI franchise much to Jeremy Renner's chagrin when he thought they'd hand it over to him, I don't see them ever shifting the focus off Mav who will be pushing 70 at that point (it's okay for Tom Cruise, but I don't think the navy is letting That Old Man do All That Shit).

Thank you for your faith in my ability to write a backdoor sequel, but to be honest it was tough work to write action scenes when I was writing against the grain of dystopic claims so I might not be the one to write about a rescue mission that doesn't involve everyone just threatening to kill each other because they read the map wrong and are now going around in circles in the jungle. I also harbor a secret belief that if Phoenix and Bob ever went down and they needed to launch a second mission to save them, by the time our himbos got there, Phoenix would already have saved them both and they'd be sipping Mai Tais poolside at the closest Club Med. Extreme "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle this" energy. If anything, she'd have to cut her vacation short to save the daggers who were supposed to be saving her.

But there is a sort of big damn hero moment coming up in can't fake what you can't break up with so hopefully that scratches the itch! (As an aside: to that anon who asked me last week about this fic, you kickstarted me working on that again with that ask. Of course now it's like 17k and I still haven't written that part that was holding me up, but the parts I did write make it flow better so thanks for getting the creative juices flowing! Turns out asking fic writers about their WIPs prompts them to write more stuff, go figure!)

[just-zander]

Next

Nearly four years ago, I had a plan to draw a Treasure Planet and Breath of the Wild crossover comic, combining two of my favorite universes. I'd been daydreaming a plot for 6 months by the time I started to actually write down and organize the story, and then I wrote for another 6 months before I ever shared the first chapter on AO3.

I kept promising here that I would start drawing it, but then I gave in to imposter syndrome and convinced myself that I couldn't do it; the story was too big, I wasn't a good enough artist, people wouldn't even read it, etc etc.

Well... I wrote it and posted the story. It wasn't the best story I've ever written, but it was mine and I loved it and even if no one read it, I at least could say that I did it and that was something to be proud of. Even if I didn't draw it, it was still done and I thought that would be the end of my fanfict career.

The funny thing is, I made a friend who loved my story and urged me to keep writing and who said I inspired then to begin writing again. I was blown away. Ngl, I cried. I never thought of my writing as inspiring or worth reading, and here someone was telling me that I gave them a reason to be creative again.

We wrote a story together.

And then another.

And another.

Dozens of stories written and shared and now I finally feel confident enough to share my art.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though I'm still nervous about messing this up, even though it scares me to put my art out there, even though I don't think my art is worthy of a comic, I'm doing this and I'm going to see it through.

So thank you for checking this out.

Note:

I've linked the original story below, but I'm currently in the process of rewriting it, so the plot will vary and will pull from both new and original versions.

The cover is also based on the cover art for BotW, with Treasure Planet aspects tied into it to bring them together.

Lastly, everything is over on AO3 as well, including all tags giving warnings for what's to come. There are adult themes, but nothing explicitly NSFW will be included in the comic.

Updates are every Tuesday. Early access on Patreon (link to come soon).

Finally,

Happy 21st anniversary Treasure Planet! ❤️

[mysticsparklewings]

Terror in Six Words

----------

He didn't know

she'd been bitten.

----------

Hey, this isn’t an Obscutober piece! 😦

No, but you’re getting 2 art things from me today because there were some community events on DeviantArt I wanted to partake in, & as it happens a “scary” 6-word story in poetry magnets felt like a good way to do that. 😉

Same as the Obscutober pieces, if you’re curious to hear more about my process for how this all came together—and I promise it was much more involved than you’d think!—Click the "Keep Reading" and we'll talk a bit more about my general thoughts/process. ✨

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

----------

So, again: Hmm. This doesn't look like an Obscutober piece, and yet...it looks kind of familiar, doesn't it? 😉 We all probably should've known that I'd break out the mini-magnets at least once this month, sooner or later. 🤭

This was actually supposed to be kind of a 2-in-1 piece, but this has been such a busy month and busy week in particular that I got my days mixed up and thought I had more time than I actually did...So it's no longer a 2-in-1, but it wasn't totally a waste, either.

DeviantArt, in typical fashion, is holding a Badge Event this month, and loyal Sparklers will know if it's a badge I like I have a hard time turning those down—We went through something similar last year! And on top of that, @CRLiterature was also holding a Tiny Tales of Terror Challenge...which ran through the 24th, and you'll notice today's date is the 26th. 😅

And to be clear: I'm mentioning the Tiny Tales Challenge not because I expect any kind of exception or what-have-you to be made for me, but just to be transparent about my motivations. It's my fault for missing the deadline and I accept that. The only reason I'm going ahead and posting it now, so soon after the missed deadline, instead of holding off until Halloween is because I am hoping to maybe squeeze in something else just for Halloween, and I've got a bunch of other things to try and scramble to get done on my to-do list before then; If I don't post it today, it may very well not get posted at all. 🫠

[Plot twist: I was thisclose to posting this yesterday, even, but yesterday was a particularly chaotic day so it just wasn't possible—yet more evidence that if I'm not careful and quick about it this artwork may be doomed to live behind the scenes forever.]

It would also be kind of disingenuous to discuss what I made without mentioning that challenge as that's where I got the entire idea to make this specifically a six-word-story from.

DeviantArt's Badge Event, for those who don't know, is encouraging people to make something inspired by some short stories they commissioned. So there was my starting point, and I had been considering breaking out the poetry magnets for a Halloween-ish one-off piece anyway, since I have really been missing them this month while I handle Inktober/Obscutober in a magnet-less way for the first time in years.

While I had those two thoughts at the back of my mind, the Tiny Tales Challenge came up, which asked people to write a scary story in six words or less. And since I'm personally most familiar with six-word-stories from magnetic poetry, it all just kinda came together as a perfect storm in my mind: A six-word story, told in magnets, inspired by one of the stories for the badge event. 💡

Now, that said, if you've read the four short stories for the badge event, you might be scratching your head and trying to figure out what my six words here have to do with any of them. I won't deny for a moment that any connection to the story I picked really isn't obvious, but all I can tell you Sparklers is that my brain is a strange place and you never know what off-the-wall connections are going to be made in there. 🤪

Of the four stories, the one that stuck with me the most was Survivor's Guilt. It has a kind of somber, Twilight-Zone-esque quality to it, and that's more what I personally favor in "horror" story over the typical heart-racing-scream-your-head off variety. [As I've probably talked about a bit before but I don't remember where.]

Somehow, I left that story with one of my favorite My Chemical Romance songs in my head—Early Sunsets Over Monroeville, which itself was inspired by Dawn of the Dead. And I was also reminded just a little of Carmilla, a vampire tale that actually predates Bram Stoker's Dracula.

As I said, my brain is a strange place that makes strange connections. 🥴 My best guess is that my subconscious really hitched onto the ending revelation of Survivor's Guilt, which I won't spoil for you here if you haven't read it. (You should though, it's good!)

Suffice to say: Something about how we don't know what we don't know and we want to understand, but sometimes gaining that understanding is it's own special kind of horror.

But just having those inspirations and making those strange connections alone wasn't enough, of course. I still had to string some actual words together, not just feelings. 😆 So I broke out my notebook for mini-magnet brainstorming and started scribbling.

Well, okay, first I had to search up and read some existing six-word-stories from across the internet because it's been so long since I last tried to write one that I was having trouble getting in what felt like the right headspace to work with so few words. Then I got scribbling.

In said scribbling, I was reminded very much of a few years ago—ironically, the first time I followed an Obscutober list—when I made another one-off mini-magnet piece that was also meant to be a scary story in few words. Granted, that was 50 words or less, so still a very different experience.

That is to say though: I was reminded that "scary" writing is not my strong suit. 😅 I just can't even seem to quite grasp the "punch" to properly shift the words from ominous into actually spooky territory. And that was not made any easier by having to work in so few words.

My main take away from my efforts in the notebook is that it's not actually that hard to come up with six word (or less!) sentences that sound spooky...if you think of them within a scary context. For example, "They ignored the warnings," can be scary if you're thinking of it as people ignoring warnings that will inevitably lead to something dangerous/harmful happening. But it can just as easily be not very scary at all if this "they" is just ignoring warnings of "Oh don't touch that, the paint's still wet and you'll get paint on your hands."

Context is also very important in the words being anything close to a story, and not just...well, just words, if that makes any sense. "There was a body," is a sentence, yes, and it could definitely lean scary if you picture "body" as a non-living person. But it's still a relatively "flat" statement of fact.

I think that's a large part of why I kept thinking of Early Sunsets, and kind of songs in general as I was trying to figure out where to go with my ideas and feelings. Good song lyrics can squeeze a whole lot of story and metaphor into just a few words, and I feel that's especially true with My Chemical Romance. [One of many reasons why they're my favorite.

"They're building a coffin your size," is what I would consider a pretty much perfect scary six-word-story, straight from their song Mama, to give you a better idea of where I'm coming from. And if this could have just been a recycled song quote, I totally would've used that—but this was not the time nor place. 😆

To be fair, despite everything I just described about my thought process, in the end I'm not sure I totally succeeded in getting everything I wanted out of my six words, but of the options I wrote down (that were actually my words to use), this was the one I kept coming back to.

It puts vampires in my head first and foremost—Most certainly because that's my favorite "traditional" monster archetype, and if you know me at all that comes as no surprise at all, I'm sure. But there are plenty of other instances where the answer to the unwritten question of "Bitten by what?" Would be rightly terrifying: Zombie (as more directly related to Early Sunsets), Werewolf, even non-Halloween-ish things like a rabid animal or disease-carrying mosquito.

...Okay the rabid animal could still be Halloween-ish if it was a rabid bat or something, but you get the idea.

Yet there are still ways to put a more metaphorical spin on it; That this "she" could've been "bitten by a bug" as in something that changed her way of thinking or motivations in life and made her into a scarier person than she was before, or something like that.

So perfect, no, but it was the closest to striking the right balance of all the different things I wanted that I was able to come up with.

Which leaves us with the visual component. The magnets are what they always are, but what is this background?

Well, if you remember when I mentioned I've done this short-story-in-few-words kind of thing before, there's actually a touch more irony there. Last time, I used a photo is from a "Tezza College Kit" that I actually won from a past DeviantArt contest as my base and made some additions and modifications to better fit the mood I was going for. Since I knew full-well I wouldn't have time to come up with something from scratch for this, that was the first other option that came to mind.

So I sifted through those photos for something that felt like either a good fit or at least a good place to start.

And I must disclose that at that point, I was actually still strongly considering one other assortment of six words—I was thinking of "cheating the system" and submitting two separate six-word-stories that kind of went together. I ultimately decided not to because the more I thought of the two together, the weaker the other one felt compared to this one.

But I mention that because my initial photo pulls from the kit were pretty different because I was hoping to get two photos that seemed to go together and still felt right thematically. As much as I love the base photo I picked here—so much so I strongly considered it at the time for that 50 word story I keep referring to—It wouldn't have worked for the two-story idea really at all because I just didn't have another photo that would pair well with it for what I wanted.

That said, the photo was a little plain—pure black and white—on it's own, so I ended up fiddling with the colors a bit and bringing up the reds for some more drama.

I will note though that dramatic red wasn't actually my first choice. I had planned to just use the fact that photographing black and white things without a filter is challenging to my advantage, but the photo that was the best of the ones I took in other ways didn't have much color alteration going on. Originally, I was just going to add a little warmth/hints of sepia like happened naturally in one of the other photos I took, but since I had Photoshop open anyway I decided to play just a little, and the red came about as a result of that playtime.

I very nearly actually went with an all-over red tone (except for the white space in the middle), but thought the look was ultimately too dark. I did the spot red after thinking things over and deciding I really didn't want to artificially brighten the image up and mess with the black contrast if I could help it.

Whew. 😮‍💨 ...Leave it to me to make six little words so complicated and particular, right? 😆

I think I ended up trying to make up for "lost time" in not doing more with magnetic poetry this year, even though they're only a very small part of the process. My subconscious thoroughly missed the memo that that wasn't necessary. 😅

Still, frustration at myself for getting the timeline jumbled up aside, I had fun. 🙂 The length of this description might speak more loudly to that than anything else. 🤣

Speaking of, I hate to end this kind of abruptly, but I think I have finally covered everything I wanted to about the art at hand and I still have to cross-post this and do the Obscutober piece for today, too. So if you Sparklers don't mind, I'll leave you to ponder these words, encourage you again to go check out Survivor's Guilt—and the other 3 Terror Tales, too!—and be on my way.

Don't you Sparklers get unknowingly bitten by anything in the meantime, alright? 😉

----------

Poem © me, MysticSparkleWings

Inspired by FridgePoetProject

----------

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

[m00nj3w3l]

Well here I am (ONS chapter 128)

Ok I'm finally writing out my thoughts about ONS' 128. Idk how long it'll come out (extremely long as I'm writing it it seems...) and also as always I want to hear others' opinions on this, but as a warning it will be mostly negative. I actually did a similar post back at the start of the year with BSD, but BSD at least managed to bounce back full force and do what it needed to do while ONS shows no signs of that.

I'll break it down into the following points:

>I'm also getting tired of the flashbacks (as many already did)

>I miss the Shinoa squad (will touch upon Mitsuba specifically and y'all probably know why)

>The belief that MikaYuu fans are getting much better content and why I think that's bs (will probably mention my theorem of "Mika, along with literally all the women of the franchise, got hit with the mysoginy stick")

So let's go I guess, under the cut so I don't clutter my non-ONS followers' dash.

>The flashbacks: I... Did not mind them up unti now, if I've got to be honest. Let's be serious here everyone probably expected a batshit crazy backstory for the characters, ESPECIALLY Yuu and Mika, and that's what made me not really complain. Now it has been like? 8 chapters of ONLY flashbacks??? Only things of the past with NO break and NO POV switches to at least let us know wtf is going on in the outside world. Christ. The fact that irritates me the most is that all of this adds nothing to the plot either!!! What are the MCs supposed to do now that they've seen one of them (WHO HAS BEEN 4 DIFFERENT SPECIES TOO SINCE THE START OF THE SERIES???) sacrifice for the 3rd time!!!! AND IN THE PAST AT THAT!!!! HOW IS THIS USEFUL FOR THEM OR ANY OF US AGHHFHGHHG. We got other gays going at it tho and that's just funny to me. This is just a BL masked as a battle shonen lmaoooo.

>The Shinoa squad: I feel like this is obvious. Where tf are they? They obviously are looking out for where Mika and Yuu are, how did we not see them again yet??? Some progress in their hunt (let's call it that) for those two??? Shinoa literally threatened to kill Mika (and, for a number of reasons, let me say this: ew.) I'd at least like to see her and how she's doing. And didn't Kagami promise us Mitsuba would get more screentime soon? THIS IS LITERALLY A PERFECT SETTING. SHOW ME HER AND SHINOA BEING IN CONFLICT CUS SHE WORRIES ABOUT HER FRIEND AND WANTS HER TO COME TO HER SENSES!!! SHOW ME HOW THEE LITERAL KIDS ARE DOING AFTER BEING ASKED BY A FULL ON 24 Y.O TO CHOOSE THEIR FAMILIES OR THE WORLD LIKE BE SO SERIOUS THE SETTING WAS *DECENT* (wouldn't say perfect cus I'm not the biggest fan of the "bring everyone back" plot but ok) FOR IT ALL I'M *explodes*

>MikaYuu: Oh boy ok here we go. So since I came back after my rewatch and catch up to this manga which resulted in hyperfixation again I noticed that the narrative of MikaYuu shippers getting better content cus a lot of the chapters now focus on them is... common. And for a while I just thought "ok" and moved on but now I'm fully on convinced it's just. Not true. Not because the content isn't there, I would be lying if I said that, but because it's... Not good. Good content, for me (as someone who clearly loves these two if you scroll for even 2 minutes down my fucking tag), would be seeing actual growth between them, some actual substance in what they are doing as of rn, and we are not getting any of that. Since when did we see them actually DO something? Last time we saw Yuu in his actual body and actually saying something was last chapter and he was EATING. Then we went back to them just passively staring at everything that went on. And to add onto this, I dislike demon Mika as a plot IN GENERAL because it recessed any development both for HIM and for Yuu himself. Yuu acts stupid (wtf happened to him after Nagoya I'm being so serious Nagoya Yuu I miss you so much) as shit cus anyway Mika IS strong enough to let him get away with it but not enough to oppose Yuu at some point and this was addressed as a problem for like 2 seconds and then nothing. Oh my God. And not only that but this fucking thing also shows that Mika did, indeed, also get hit with a mysoginy beam, but that's another topic I want to talk about in another post if anyone even really cares about it.

So... Yeah. I'm not tired (I only started catching up in March after my rewatch, so I'm still curios about how this will go), but I AM sad. I really miss the earlier arcs and the potential they all had that now seems like a long lost memory. Can we all collectevely just go back to the Nagoya one like if the series stuck to that path I would be able to excuse its flaws up until a point because GOD. The eyeball with its Seraph shit or whatever the hell it was doing was cool tho.

As always y'all can tell me what y'all think, but I'm mostly expecting this to get lost in the void given how dead the fandom is. So yeah, see ya.

[nobleriver]

Hi!! It's me- anon-sy! So, just a question- there's a fic that's been ruminating in my head that I'm trying to write out- that I will not finish in years lol- but it's a 10River fob!watch au with martha & River friendship and 10 & Martha brotp. Actually it's more and less a family of blood episode AU and something I still can't figure out is how will it be finished in a way that will be Silence of the Library compliant AND give River and/or 10 more angst- cause River is my precious blorpo and she must suffer 😊

Anyway, how would you in particular plot this out and/or write this? I promise I won't use your ideas- I just don't have Whovian friends to talk to about this.

Feel free to disregard this if it's too silly. Thank you!!! 😊 💕💕

Ooooh what a fun AU concept! Martha and River being besties sounds amazing, and let's be honest, if they ever met, they would be. River instead of Joan as the teacher. River is there to investigate. Maybe, as those creatures have been chasing the Doctor, she has been chasing them. Also, I don't care if you use these plot ideas.

My immediate reaction while reading the rest of your ask was "Forget Silence in the Library"! No seriously, I yelled this out loud as I was reading that 😂 It's like a 10River graveyard (well, I guess "like" is the wrong word. It literally is.)

But right, right, right, Martha comes before Donna, I got you, and SITL is the first time he sees her. *sighs* However, you can employ the same trick as Big Finish. Have River wipe his memory when it's over. That would DEFINITELY give both of them angst. Maybe, it can be a device like in Hell Bent or a drug she uses. Martha will offer to persuade River to stay, as she offered to persuade Joan, yet the Doctor will tell her not to. River's made her choice. Timelord!10 would vehemently reject a memory wipe, so she would either have to do it secretly OR she would need to get Human!10 to agree to it and inject a slow-release memory drug into his system while he's compliant. That way, when Timelord!10 arrives, it'll be too late to reject. The drug would already been in his system, deleting her face, her voice, her kiss (if they're kissing, but hey, it's human!10, you can go ham). Then, we the audience would be suspended in angst with these two characters as they say goodbye, as 10 - just like in the end of the original Family of Blood - strives to cling hold to his memories, to cling hold to River, to have her travel with him, only to be rejected. She promises he'll see her again, one last reassurance before she teleports away, leaving him alone once more. Once more is he trapped in the unending grief of losing the woman he loves.

[This is probably WAY past the endpoint of your AU, but in my mind - I really do love your story concept - the aftermath goes like this lol ]

Even after time passes, his memories turned to dust, the feeling of lost, the residual grief of her absence still haunts his steps. Her phantom laugh plagues him at night when the companions sleep. No wonder he stops breathing when a strange message with bizarrely familiar handwriting appears on his psychic paper: The Library. Come as soon as you can, x. All thoughts of the beach fly from his mind. His limbs operate as if on autopilot, his feet kicking levers into place, his fingers punching in new space-time coordinates. Donna questions why he came here, why come if he doesn't know the sender? But he can't give a real answer. He doesn't know the real answer. All he knows is...he can't resist their call.

Your AU can be canon compliant to SITL while fully developing 10River's romance. Have fun with it. :)