#i couldn't color this scene to save my life

[whatisyourchildhoodtrauma]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER | 5.16 “The Body”

[paceyjoeydaily]

one paceyjoey gifset per episode:

1x02 (dance) - pacey resting his arm on joey’s chair

[sgtbradfords]

something wild and unruly

Pairing: Tyler Owens x reader

Summary: You and the Tornado Wranglers seek shelter from the tornado inside a theater that was most certainly not up to modern building codes.

Warnings: life or death situation, minor character injury, hurt/comfort, dirty talk, flirting

A/N: It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written an x reader, but after watching the theater scene in Twisters, I just couldn't get this idea out of my head. Enjoy! :)

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‘This is it.’ you think, pushing yourself further up underneath a row of theater chairs as the sound of a freight train grew louder. 

In the two years that you had been working with The Tornado Wrangler, you had witnessed Tyler and Boone have numerous, exhilarating, and successful intercepts with one of nature’s most destructive forces, but always from the safety of your vehicle several miles away. Your job of keeping up with the ever-evolving data was rather tedious and very important, but it didn’t always require you to be in close proximity with the rotating column, which was something you preferred. Especially when staying back allows you to capture the beauty of the storm from behind a lens. 

For a moment, you allow yourself to go there, to imagine what this tornado would look like from the safety of an open field. In your mind, the massive wedge wasn’t wrapped by sheets of rain, making it one of the most photogenic you had ever captured, even though it was obliterating everything in its path. Through the screen of your camera, you would be able to see whole trees, sheets of metal, planks of wood, as they circulated through the air. 

Dexter yells something from the other end of the row, his words unintelligible as it pulls you out of your reverie, reminding you that you didn't have to imagine the destruction because you were living through it.

You adjust your sweaty palms along the base of the chair in front of you, muttering underneath your breath that everything was going to be okay. It was only going to last a few more seconds, right?

“Shit!” cries out a familiar voice as the screen at the front of the auditorium is pulled away, revealing the beast which rages outside.

Turning your head slightly to the right, you glance towards the floor of the row behind you. 

Tyler is frowning prominently, you might add, but that wasn't what unnerved you. No, what chilled you to the bone was the unmistakable fear in his glaucous colored eyes. Because if the Tyler Owens was scared, then the world as you know it was ending. 

The vibration in your palms intensifies as a decades worth of old dust and stale popcorn is sucked out of the building. There’s a small part of you that hopes that that’s the worst of it, that this little podunk would remain otherwise unscathed. But like a fool, the tornado proves you wrong by pulling the row of chairs in front of you away, leaving you suddenly exposed. 

“[Y/N]!” You hear Tyler yell, but by then it was too late.

You scream, a loud, guttural sound of peril that is lost to the wind as one of your hands loses its grip on the chair. Frantically, you look around for something, anything, that would be worth holding onto in a last-ditch effort in saving your life, choosing to grasp the leather of the armrest that was just within reach. 

The thought that you were quite literally about to die, crosses your mind as your body is lifted off the sticky floor and into the air. 

“Tyler!” you scream, knowing that you wouldn’t be able to hold on for forever. 

You watch as furiously he twists and turns, firmly wrapping the toe of his boot around the base of the chairs behind him, before reaching out towards you.

With both hands, you hold onto his wrist for dear life, your weightless body swaying in the air as more debris flies past you. It feels as though the moment lasts a lifetime, time slowing to a standstill as Tyler attempts to pull you back down, sending an intense throbbing sensation up your arm. 

You don’t know how long you hold on, but just as quickly as it began, did your buoyancy end, sending your body crashing to the floor. 

“Holy shit [Y/N],” Tyler says, kneeling in front of you. “Are you okay?”

“What's your definition of okay?”

It was a miracle that you hadn’t flown out the gaping hole at the front of the theater. So, were you okay? Not by a long shot, but was it better than someone finding your mangled body in a tree somewhere? Absolutely. 

You watch as his concern deepens, his brow pulling further inward as you give him a shaky smile. “I’m fine Cowboy, at least I will be.”

The look understandably fails in easing his worries. He glances towards your thigh. “You’re bleeding.”

“Am I?” You tell him, looking downward to find your jeans now tainted a crimson color thanks to a small jagged wound that ran across your thigh. You should probably be concerned about that, right? “I am. I’m bleeding. And I'm missing a shoe.”

“I need a first aid kit!” Tyler yells a little too loudly, causing you to wince.

“It's not that bad.” To prove a point, you move to your feet, only for your legs to wobble underneath your weight. 

Tyler rolls his eyes, “You resemble a newborn giraffe.”

“A cute newborn giraffe.” You giggle, easing yourself down into a theater chair. “I think I'm in shock.”

Raising a brow, Tyler kneels on the ground before you, first aid kit now in hand. “You think?”

So what if you were in shock or that you had what looked to be an insignificant wound that needed to be treated? There were people out there, in far worse condition than yourself, that needed help. 

“Better think of your happy place sweetheart, cause this is going to burn like hell.”

Tyler murmurs low apologies under his breath when you release a hiss as the alcohol pad sanitizes the cut, but the pain was short-lived as tenderly, he continues to provide treatment. 

You watch him closely, noting his features; the way his nose was furled, the way his lips thinned, or how his brow furrowed as he focused intently on putting a couple butterfly bandages over the open wound. It’s the same look he gets when trying to decipher where the hell the team was going to chase for the day. You shake your head at the imagery.

“All done,” He says, giving you a panty melting smile. Damn him. You can feel your cheeks warm, heart beating wildly inside your chest as you move to your feet. “Does the patient want a sticker or a sucker?”

“What the patient would like is to get out of here.” While you long for the opportunity to take a hot shower, you know that it'll be hours until you find yourself in the bathroom of a motel room. Instead, you brush off the dust off your clothes. “But for future reference,” your lips twitch into a smirk as you lean in close, whispering. “I prefer to do my sucking on my knees.”

It takes everything in you to walk away calmly, to not look back, not even once, but that doesn’t mean the intensity of his stare has no effect on you. More than once, does your knees threaten to buckle, but by some miracle you manage to keep your head held high. 

It was going to be a long couple of hours. 

[mrs-weasley-reid]

AUGUST REC FICS

Hello, my sweets!! Here I am, once again, for yet another month of reading and living vicariously through our one and only Reader. I haven't read much this past month, and most of these sweet authors are people I follow (and shockingly, some are my mutuals, too !!! I'm too much of a fangirl to believe it's true). Give these gorgeous, spectacular writers a ton of love. They all deserve it so much, considering they're blessing us with such amazing work for free. Like. Comment. Reblog. The equivalent of a five-star review

Like always, I will be going based on what I've read recently and not by the date the fic was posted. Reminder to please respect these writers. Some contents are 18+. MINORS should not be interacting in any way.

— ✿ — ✿ ✿ — ✿ ✿ ✿

Spencer Reid

✿ a muted shade of green by @dalamjisung ↳ the flow of this fic was so smooth my jaw dropped down on the floor as i read through (writer's first reid fic, and it was chef's kiss)

✿ hearts aligned by @raekensluver ↳ OMG this one had me melting. roommate spencer is such a dream

✿ sick love by @misserabella ↳ guilty pleasure unlocked. a wonderful reading session filled with interesting discoveries

✿ behind closed doors by @incognit0slut ↳ i loved binging this so much !!! was a giggling, kicking mess while reading this one; and it has four parts ! we're so spoiled

✿ kiss it better by @nereidprinc3ss ↳ tmi but was having an episode of mild anxiety attack, and this saved me in the middle of the night, giggling myself to sleep, so thank you for such amazing work x

✿ dead of night & nightvisions by @cxrrodedcoffin ↳ lol i read this at work and had to fight battles not to make any facial signs that i was consuming kinky content. the second part was another level, i was cackling like a witch

✿ much ado about nothing: act iii, scene v & act iv, scene i by @incognit0slut ↳ act iii, scene v left me speechless, reader didn't fold and i took that as a win. act iv, scene i played with my emotions lol

✿ just a number by @reidsdaisies ↳ i became a stand-up actress while reading this because it's overwhelmingly spicy and filled with tension i had to provide comedic relief for myself

✿ untittled req response by @mandarinmoons ↳ no because i saw my reblog post of this and i immediately snorted and then laughed some more after rereading it. pipe cleaner will never not be funny to me

✿ poison me, i'm fine by @gghostwriter ↳ no because this one needs more attention ?????????????? i loved reading this so much i was so tempted to pull my heart out and ship it to pau, show how crumpled it was after reading

✿ my best colors for your portrait & my face in every place by @none-of-your-bullshit ↳ i wasn't lying when i said august is for angst and i immediately gobbled this up after seeing it. the way my chest was so tight but also smiling because the writing style is amazing got me looking like a lunatic

✿ cute, outraged genius by @lavenderspence ↳ tina got me laughing like a gremlin. it's so adorable she made me fall in love with spencer all over again

✿ another untitled req response by @mandarinmoons ↳ sorry, sweethearts, ket just couldn't be bothered with titles lmao. secret lover reader is my favorite lover, sooooo you all will enjoy this cutie patootie creation

✿ one single thread of gold by @gghostwriter ↳ you'll overdose of sweetness. it's so adorable and a great way to feel giggly about spencer reid.

✿ for the fear of falling apart | part one by @pathologicalreid ↳ i haven't read the rest of the parts but mhmmm this was DELISH. well-written creation that made me show emotions while reading at work. my coworkers asked me my my eyes were so wide and i think that says a lot at how great this is

✿ second to none by @raekensluver ↳ ooooo this one got my blood boiling in a good way

✿ untitled work by @sincerelybubbles ↳ adorable stuff make me melt especially when it's a spencer one

— ✦ — ✦ ✦ — ✦ ✦ ✦

Aaron Hotchner

✦ darling, in any life series by @hotchfiles ↳ at this point are we even surprise im including yet another series form lari here ? anywayyy, i love me some old flame trope

✦ picket fence dream by @hotchfiles ↳ this is a new part from the choiceless hope series and i gobbled it up. i was screaming when i read this

✦ tells by @ssahotchnerr ↳ first thing i read in the morning, and i sobbed from the overwhelming sweetness

✦ silver by @solardrop ↳ okay but this was so adorable ??? plus im def one of those gals who tried to throw herself on him, maybe even catapult myself

✦ sympathy for the devil by @hotchfiles ↳ nosebleed. spice level is not as high as i make it seem but the writing really got me sweating. just read it, you'll understand what i mean

✦ spending time with you by @lavenderspence ↳ no because TINA CALLED ME OUT WITHOUT CALLING ME OUT. i was slightly offended. the gasp i gasped was so loud asdkfnkg. but it is adorable, go read it pls pls

✦ doctor, love by @none-of-your-bullshit ↳ i love when reader slaps the character with some reality like a seasoned raw steak.

sorry, not sorry if this post is filled with lari. I reread her works religiously, so here are my favorites from hers truly:

✦ help me hold onto you ↳ oh, this is like crack for me, and i always come crawling back no matter how hard i try to stay sober

✦ half asleep takin' chances ↳ still waiting for future aaron somewhere out there

✦ choices ↳ gonna be honest with everyone this one makes me wanna deck aaron hotchner and then deck reader for folding so easily and also deck myself because im no better than reader

✦ quis ut deus? & daniel 12:1 ↳ my fave series from lari and i will never not reread them over and over and over and over again because i love it so much idk what's the appeal on me but i love it and i want this framed and buried with me even if it's unfinished

I haven't had a lot of time to visit the good ole "for you" feed in a while, so I apologize for missing all the amazing work every writer has put out this month. I will make it up to you, I promise! And if you'd like, you can send me works or mention me so I can read certain creations that you deem noteworthy for the next rec fic month!

love lots, ker x

[your-friendly-sociopath]

I've been thinking recently about a story I made a while back about yandere alastor while he was alive, and apparently ppl liked it so I've decided to make a part two of that, but it's shortly after both alastor and his darling (reader obv) are dead

Also bc alastor is hot and I need more

Part one here

His Darling Doe, Pt 2

After Alastor had "saved" you in the alleyway, he never let you leave the cabin

For the rest of your (admittedly short) life, he had forced you into the role of the meek and helpless housewife

It wasn't so bad, he was a gentleman and always made sure you had everything you could want

Except your freedom of course

The night alastor died you thought you were finally free

But nope

Turns out that when the cops found out he was the killer, they thought you were an accomplice and had you sentenced to death

One moment you were on an electric chair, the next you were falling from the sky

As you were falling you heard a loud screech, and could see the devastated look coming from a glowing creature above

It looked like an angel

The next thing you noticed was a glowing green chain dragging you down (bc the chain scene was so hrrrgh)

And the last thing you noticed was two small wings attached to your back, you watched as the once snowy white color became corrupted by black and green -the same shade of green as the chain- then you hit the ground and blacked out

Again you woke up, face smushed against the weirdly warm cement

Confused, you slowly pulled yourself into a sitting position, and looked around trying to make sense of your surroundings

Right as you finally pulled yourself to your feet (or hooves, since ur a deer demon cause I say so) you heard a very loud, very staticy, and very family voice

A voice you had come to both dread and love while alive

"Ah, there are my dear. I was starting to think that my spells hadn't worked!"

Your eyes widened in horror as you turned to face the man you had once loved, your now discolored wings subconsciously wrapping around you in an attempt to comfort you

"No... not you" you whispered

Alastor tilted his head in confusion

" Whatever do you mean by that, my darling doe? I'd have thought you would be absolutely ecstatic to see me!"

You scowled at him and took a step back, to which he responded by smiling wider and stepping forward

"Come now my dear, you can't really be upset still, everything I did was to keep you safe."

Your ears (you hadn't noticed you deer ears in your hair until they had just moved, surprising you) flattened in irritation as your wings flared out in anger

"You kept me locked up in that God forsaken cabin," you hissed "trapped there to be nothing more than a trophy for you."

Alastor's eyes narrowed, he had known that you didn't like being kept in the house, but he couldn't just let you out!

Anything could've happened to you, he was simply protecting you!

Alastor decided to close the distance between you two, and quickly strided over to you, pushing you against the wall he trapped you in a passionate kiss

Despite your anger, you couldn't help but melt into the kiss, having missed him despite being separated for just under a month

You two stayed like that for a few minutes, relishing in each other's presence

When you finally came back to your senses, you shoved him away and ran

Distantly, you heard a record scratch as alastor took a moment to realize what you just did

Then he snarled, his smile growing impossibly wide as he shifted into his full demon form

You rushed through crowds of demons, a few of them snarling at you and threatening you, others catcalling

Now, despite being in hell for only a few weeks, alastor had already set a reputation as demon not to fuck with

So as you rushed through the crowds with a creepy ass deer demon chasing you, many knew not to interfere

Alastor reached out a long clawed hand, just barely brushing your arm

Panicked, you glanced back and saw alastor, looking like a fucking monster

You shrieked in terror, and out of instinct, your wings opened up and launched you into the sky

You heard alastor let out an unearthly, furious scream

You let yourself hope, for a brief moment, that you had escaped

Then the same glowing chain appeared around your neck, a d yanked you back down to the ground

You crashed into the broad chest of alastor, still in his demon form, as he whispered in your ear

"A valiant effort, my darling, but you forget. You couldn't escape me while alive, so what makes you think you can escape me now.." he growled "..now that I'm so much stronger."

"You can't escape me.. you are mine~"

He chuckled lowly at your continued struggling, watching as you finally went limp in his hold when he yanked on your chain

"Come along now, pet, it's time we went home"

The hand not holding the chain snaked around your waist, bringing you flush against his body

Everything went dark for brief moment, before the both of you appeared in front of a cabin

Your cabin

The one that you now considered a prison

You ears flattened once again, this time in despair as tears started to flow

You weren't ever going to escape now

He was much to powerful for anyone to go against

Alastor buried his face in your soft hair, nhaling deeply before walking you up to the front door, slowly turning back to normal from his demon form

"Ah, welcome home, my doe~"

Hehehehehehe

Finished another

Hot deer daddy

[leaawrites]

It's nice to have a friend

Percy Jackson x mortal fem!reader

Warnings: use of Y/n, mentions of almost dying, Percy's stupid at some points, friends to lovers

Summary: Percy can't let your hands freeze to death, only because he had to make you lose yours in the first place.

Masterlist

Looking out the window Y/n saw the frozen water falling down from above. Their heritage, the clouds, were a dark color of white, however the snow didn’t make the scene dark, it made it comfortable. It gave her a type of warm hug, a feeling she couldn’t forget. A feeling she wanted to save for the warm summer days, the same as she saves the sun for rainy days, and the rain for when the flowers bloom.

The bell rang, signaling that the lesson, and the school day therefor, was over. Y/n sighned, she did want to walk through the streets covered in snow, but her hands would freeze to death in the meantime, since she lost her gloves a year before.

With her hands in the pockets of her coat and her gaze on the floor, watching the snow squish under her boots, while new one fell onto them, she concentrated on the music in her ears. Only looking up when she heard child’s laughter. On the other side of the sidewalk, 4 kids were having a snowball fight, laughing together when one gets hit by the snow. Y/n stopped, admiring the fun in their eyes.

“You wanna join them?” A voice beside her asked.Turning around, she saw her best friend, Percy.

She would still concider him her best friend, even when he started to ditch her every summer for some summer camp he couldn't tell her too much about. She liked the boy, she really did. But something about his behavior when she asked him about it didn't sit right with her. It was like he didn’t want her to know. Before this, Percy would've told her everything. No matter what, she used to always be the first to know. Whether it be about a new school he was sent to or someone that bullied him on that day. It was always her. Now it were his new friends.

She tried to tell herself that it was because Percy wanted to leave some of his old life behind whenever he went to summer camp. Like it were two seperate worlds. But she knew that Grover, another friend of Percy's, was also there.

"I can’t," she answered. "I lost my gloves last year, after you had to take me to one of those." She pointed to the kids, smilling at the memory of back then.

“Oh, yeah.” He remembered, laughing at the memory as well.

Both of them were prepared to make the other go down and suffer in the snow that day a year ago. It was a simple and nice idea, until Percy decided he had to help a duck on the lake. At that time he hadn’t had snow gloves himself, so he borrowed Y/n’s.

Long story short, the duck ended up almost drowning, together with Percy, but could rescue itself, while the gloves were sliding from Percy’s hands and fell into the freezing water. He hadn’t bought her new one’s, he insisted on doing so, but she refused to accept them when he got them for her. She didn’t want him to spent his money on her, so she said she would buy new one’s herself. Since it was technically her own fault for giving them to him, when she knew they wouldn’t end up on her own pair of hands anyway. However, she forgot until it was too late.

"You almost died that day, how can you laugh about it?" She asked the pale boy. With the white snow surrounding him he fit right into it.

"t was a fun day, you can’t deny it, can you?" He asked her, searching for the comformation he always craved from her. He wanted her to agree with him in everything, so that he knew that they were still balancing on the same thin line like before all the sudden changes in his life.

Spending time with her always kind of made him feel more at ease. She was his home. She was who he was so used to, he could tell her everything. Besides about camp and his now second life. It was too dangerous. So, he keot it to himself. Rather have her angry than dead, right?

"It was a fun day," she agreed, stuffing her hands further into her pockets from the cold temperatures.

"Have mine," Percy said, holding his gloves into her direction, after seeing her shaking body.

"No, thanks,” she said, continuing walking home. "I’m not even that cold."

But the chattering of her teeth betrayed her and Percy looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"Then have one at least," he tried to compromise, looking into her eyes with that certain look. Raising his eyebrows, Percy moved the glove more to her body, until she couldn’t refuse to take it anymore. Rolling her eyes in annoyance, she put the black glove over her freezing hand. Feeling the warm of his hand from before, made an slight blush creep up on her face. Which she played off from the cold.

"What is with the other, genuis?" she asked. She didn’t want a second glove but a conversation.

He only took her hand into his, beginning to walk again, not looking at her once. Her face grew even hotter and her body was filling with warmth as their bare freezing skin touched and exchanged body heat. Both were burning from the desire of this being more than a friendly encounter.

[noxi3xe]

Unfortunate turn of events

AFAB reader x Pantalone - NSFW (Minors DNI) Synopsys: You're in a tough spot and have terrible luck with finding jobs. Whatever might happen once you apply for a job at the Northland bank?

Warnings: Smut, Porn /w plot, public sex, hair pulling, overall just a quick smut scene w some plot

Words: 3.5K

Author's note:

This is also posted on AO3 HERE!!

this is a quick fic I wrote while bored, the *smut* scene is short and awkward so I apologize, but still enjoy!!

Minors dni!!

｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ

»I— I'll fix it.. I swear!«

I beg and plead as the shop owner shoves me out the door. I was a good employee, I really was, I always tried my best and always put my everything into every shift. I slump down against the door and begin to sob. This job was barely enough to cover for monthly food rations.. and aside from food I needed to fix up my house and save up for new clothes. I was going to even look for a second job to cover all of my expenses but now I don't have anything! I do not even know what triggered that immediate reaction, I mean, firing me on the spot? After breaking a simple vase that the shop manager bought just a week ago? From what I overheard it wasn't even expensive!

I stand up slowly and make my way back home, head hung low in defeat. I wasn't sure what to do now, I mean.. I've got to find a job, sure, but that was harder done than said nowadays, especially at this time of the year. Snezhnaya was a cold country all year round but winters were especially harsh. I wonder how I'd survive this year, I mean my roof is busted, my water supply is running low due to my pipes freezing up thanks to my broken heating system and not to mention that one of my windows cracked. With no heating, cracked windows and a part missing roof my house was as cold as the outside and I was barely surviving. I wasn't sure what to do till I saw freshly hung posters in the town square as I passed.

'Looking for hire.'

They said, and I stepped closer, considering the idea without even checking for the publisher. I'm glad I did because my eyes almost jumped out of my skull. It would've been a death sentence to join the Fatui and there's no way I'd even consider taking up this job offer, even if my life depends on it. The Northland bank is looking for hire? Yeah no thanks..

I stumble along and head home, hugging myself tightly, already missing my warm.. well.. as warm as it can get, blanket.

________

I stare at the dry piece of bread and the already lukewarm coffee set before me on the table. Everyday is getting harder and I don't know if I'll have enough money to buy food for next week. I lean forward and rest my head into my palms, sighing loudly. I don't know what else to do, I cannot find a job and donations from doing community service aren't enough. It's getting colder each day and I have a feeling I'll freeze if I don't get my house fixed up. That's when I decide that enough is enough and stand up, grabbing my coat.

I step out into the cold and begin to venture downtown, ready to start my search. I couldn't continue on like this knowing I'll eventually starve without a stable income. I knew I'd have to get up and start looking this morning when I found another window cracked.

—

I shuffle through the thick snow, snow slowly falling from the sky. It's a beautiful sight, the sun rising behind the parting clouds coloring the sky a bright gray-orange-blue-ish color. It was barely 6:30 in the morning and I was already threading through the city, heading towards the commission's guild, knowing I could make a quick buck or two there. Then I'd head towards the community board in the city center at around 9 to check for any new posters. The idea was great and It worked out perfectly.. to a degree.

I stopped by The adventurers guild like I said I would, greeting Katheryne and wishing her a wonderful morning. I accepted two out of three commissions offered to me, seeing as the third involved fighting some Hilichurls and I wasn't very skilled with weapons. I barely used my Pryo vision and even that was when I needed a source of heat, having no other use for the darn thing. The other two commissions were the delivery type. Ivanka, a widow living on the outskirts of the city required a fresh batch of groceries delivered and Jasmine, a local florist required some fresh soil that needed to be picked up from the dock and delivered to her straight. The commissions didn't take long and I was done very quickly, before the clock even struck 9.

I made my way back towards the Adventurer's guild, waving towards Katheryne from a far.

»I'm back!«

I exclaim excitedly. Katheryne offers me a bright smile, opening her mouth to speak.

»Thank you for completing Today's commissions. Here is your reward.«

I grab the pouch she holds out to me and flinch due to it's weight.

»A-Ah! Thank you!«

I grin and straighten a little then look around. People were beginning to wake up, go about their day and open up shops. I turn back to Katheryne and stare at her for a second then ask.

»Do you know if anybody's offering jobs of any kind for a little income?«

She thinks for a second then nods, giving me a reassuring smile.

»Well I believe the Northland bank is still searching! Best of luck if you do choose to give it a try!«

I freeze and look around. The Northland bank? Still? It's been a week and the spot hasn't been filled yet? There's no way I'd even get the job if no other has been able to in the past week! Still I believe there's no other choice I have.. Katheryne would've mentioned it if there were any other job offers available but I doubt there is since she hasn't mentioned anything. I slowly make my way towards the plaza hoping and praying to the Tsaritsa and any Celestial force that might hear my prayers to bless me with a job that is NOT working at the Northland bank.

I round the corner, passing by the local bakery and spot a younger girl standing by the notice board, either taking something off or nailing a poster to the board, I wasn't sure. I approach her slowly before making my presence known as to not startle her.

»Hey! Morning..«

I say and she turns around to look at me then offers me a friendly smile.

»Mornin'«

I now stand next to her and look over at the board confirming my suspicions. She indeed was taking a poster off, the one for the local flower shop. I tried applying for a simple cashier job there but I was too late and the place was taken before I could even ask about the offer. I sigh, spotting the last job poster on the board and my heartbeat speeds up a bit. I groan and the lady looks over at me, worriedly.

»You alright, ma'am?«

She asks and I nod, apologizing.

»Indeed, I apologize, I'm just having terrible luck looking for a job.«

She hums, nodding.

»Good luck, hey the Northland bank seems to still have an open spot? Considered checking it out?«

»I have but I doubt it's smart to get involved with the Fatui..«

»That is true.. well best of luck!«

She wishes me a good day and I return the kind words, watching her disappear around the block. I stare at the board. Town info, news reports, missing person posters, the board was filled with crap like that yet no job offers. I snatch the Northland bank poster, ripping it off and turn towards home, deciding that perhaps this was my last chance. I'll put on my best clothes and warmest smile and hope for the best.

_____

I stand before the large doors, shuddering at the thought that if luck's on my side today there might just be a chance I'd have to pass them every day. I take a moment to collect myself then slowly push the pine doors open, taking my first step inside. The warmth hits me in the face immediately and I stop for a moment, taking in the warm air and sweet smell. The Bank smells like a bakery would and it isn't as loud as one would think. People are speaking in hushed tones and keeping to themselves, not one dares to speak up. The place is clean, and I mean clean. Even the plants look perfect!

I step up to the front desk and the secretary looks up from the papers, giving me a warm smile.

»Good afternoon! How may I help you?«

She asks in a tone so cheery I didn't think was possible.  I look around for a brief moment then back to her, forcing myself to return the gesture.

»I heard you were offering a job?«

Her cheery facade drops and she stares at me, dumbfounded. I wasn't sure whether she was about to laugh seeing as somebody like me was definitely not fit to work in a bank, or because I was ballsy enough to actually show up to the bank without hesitation and ask about the job? I mean the poster was up for a long while therefore I'm guessing nobody realllllyyy wanted to even think about taking up the offer.

»M-Ma'am?«

I stutter and freeze up when she suddenly snaps out of whatever trance she was in and her warm smile returns.

»A-Apologies..! Come with me!«

She doesn't ask for my information, for even my name nor what the job would be other than working behind a desk! She just asks me to follow after her and seeing as I hold no authority over her I do not really have the right to stop her and ask her pointless questions that have a chance of getting answered even after I follow her.

We make our way up a looped staircase onto the first floor which is connected to a balcony that overlooks the bank. Every millimeter of the bank walls is covered in golden and wooden details, gems and crystals of different kinds. Even the floor looks expensive and neatly polished. I heard that the maids get paid quite a lot and they don't have to deal with customers or any of the Fatui officials therefore I wonder how much I will get paid for doing both! I could salivate at the thought of how well I'll fix up my little house with the hard earned money but I decided to push those thoughts away seeing as there's a chance I'll jinx myself and not get the job if I think about it too hard. I focus my attention back onto the bank worker and offer her a soft smile as she opens the glass double doors for me, the ones we stopped in front of after leading me down a maze of hallways.

»One of our employers should be in right now, they'll take it over from here. Best of luck, Comrade!«

She says and turns on her heel, leaving me alone. I take a deep breath before creaking the door open slowly, dipping one foot inside the room then following with my whole body and finally the other foot. I now stand inside the room my attention immediately falling onto the circular desk in the middle of the room. Behind it sit three ladies, all facing away from each other, a slim pillar extending outward towards the ceiling stands in the very middle. Their desk looks awfully messy and they seem to be in a rush. I step over and greet the black haired one, offering her a smile although I do not get one in return.

»Make it quick please, I'm busy.«

She chews on a piece of gum rather loudly, clicking the pen impatiently. I stutter but step closer, placing my ID onto the table.

»[Last name][Name], [Age], I saw you guys were looking for a secretary and was wondering whether there was any chance it was still open. I'll be honest I have no work experience in this field and don't really know what the job of a secretary involves... b-but I learn very quickly...!«

She stares at me and sighs, shaking her head. Her demeanor went from annoyed to tired in an instant and she didn't seem so hostile anymore.

»No experience you say? Ughh... erm.. well this job requires a lot of running around and a good memory s—«

I cut her off immediately, scrambling to catch my words. She shoots me a glance but doesn't stop me.

»That's no problem, really.. ! O-Oh and I remember things quickly!«

She nods, signalling that she indeed was listening as she writes something down.

»Well you'll have to wait because we were ju—«

Just as she was about to finish speaking she gets interrupted for the second time, this time not daring to look a bit annoyed. Through one of the hallways enters..

The Regator

The doors opened by Fatui Skrimishers as they escort him into the room and he sets eyes on one of the desk workers, unfortunately exactly the one I was speaking to.

»You!«

One of the Skrimishers calls out and she yelps.

»M-Me..?«

The Skrimisher walks over, slapping a pile of reports onto her table.

»Go make a copy for each and every one of these separately, now!«

The Regator stares at us intently and she looks up at him, then at me and finally at the Skrimisher.

»But.. M-My Lord.. I was tending to this young lady, she's here for an interview..!«

His smile twists into a large grin upon hearing those words and he finally speaks, his voice silky smooth.

»Wonderful, I'll take over from here.«

He purrs and I freeze. Take over? I'll get interviewed by The Regator himself? This is a joke..

I step back towards the desk and stare at the man who takes a step closer, eyes narrowing.

»Chop, chop! I don't have all day.«

He says, his tone changing immediately. He moves past us towards the back of the room where stands an impressive set of double doors which leads to another hallway. The Regator looks over his shoulder and I jump, realizing I have to follow and not just stare! We enter another expensively decorated room which seemed to serve as a waiting room. At the very far right wall stood yet another set of doors. I wonder how many this place even has. The Skrimishers open the door for the 9th and he steps inside. I hesitate for a second but just for a second as the next moment I am standing inside of the office, doors closed behind me. I was shoved inside and didn't really have a choice.

»Well then? I sure don't have all day. Come on, sit.«

His demeanor changed immediately, his smile gone and his eyes cold, staring daggers through my form. I approach slowly and pull the cushioned chair out, cringing at the sound it makes as it scrapes against the floor. I cautiously sit down and The Regator leans back, pulling out a blank form from one of his drawers.

»Let's make this quick. I'll need a full name and age, address, previous work experience..«

He continues on but I don't really listen to him, more than what not staring at the blank form. Would my picture go there? Why do they need so much information? What would happen if I just refused and got out of here. He snaps me out of my thoughts as he clears his throat.

»Are you still with me?«

He's becoming irritated.

»My apologies, My Lord.«

»Ah so you can speak after all.«

He grins, sliding me the sheet.

»Make sure to be quick, we'll have to interview you properly.«

I nod and swallow nervously as I rake my eyes over the sheet of paper. He holds out a pen, his long slender fingers adorned with all kinds of rings and jewels. He smiles, although his smile unlike the other employees' wasn't warm and welcoming, more like threatening. I return the smile awkwardly as I take the pen, focusing back on the paper. There wasn't much to fill out except for personal information. Why would my work place need my address? My previous one sure as hell did not, so why now? Well perhaps it was to mail me the check, but still I can collect it at work!

»[Name]..«

He mumbles as he watches me write my name down. I look up immediately and he grins, waving me off.

»Is there a problem, M-My Lord..?«

»Oh don't you worry your pretty head off, nothing's wrong, continue on.«

I hum and skip through the attention notice, then finish the task I was given. I lay the pen down and look back up. He's focused on the sheet rather intently. He reaches forward, sliding it over the desk and I freeze. Oh right, he actually has to read this. His eyes scan the page and he frowns. Oh no..

»Antique shop manager? That's unfortunate.«

»I— Is there a problem...?«

»I don't think your past work experience matches what we are looking for. Quite unfortunate I must say.«

He sighs and stands up and my heart drops. Wait.. so I didn't get it? But..!

»W—Wa— My Lord! I seriously need this job I..«

I cannot believe I'm begging for a job I was at first hesitant to even apply for but at this point it is my last chance, the only means of survival.

»Oh really? Do tell me why this position should be granted to exactly you over every other person twice as experienced as you.«

As experienced as me? For fucks sake it's just some numbers! I grit my teeth and look at him, knowing I'd regret my words immediately.

»What every other person? As far as I've noticed I'm the only one applying for this job, no other was in line behind me!«

His smile falls and I freeze yet again.

»Oh?«

»I— W—«

He slams his hands onto the table and stands up, I gulp.

»You've got guts to bark out against a harbinger, I'll give you that.«

I melt into my chair as I watch him round the table, staring down at my form.

»Not only you decide to go against my word and my beliefs you as well try to demand things from me?«

»I—«

»So tell me, Gem. Why should a job as highly paying as this go to somebody lowly like you?«

»M-My Lord..«

He scoffs and stops before me, leaning against the desk just two or so feet away from me. I look up and he grins widely for what feels like the 100th time, knowing I'm afraid and won't even think about acting out again.

»W-Well.. a tree fell and some windows cracked.. I— I have been barely s-surviving...I—«

I stare at my feet, fumbling with my hands. I know there's no chance of redemption now but all I can do is pray. He hums, grabbing my face and I flinch, staring up at him in disbelief. The cold metal of his rings digs into my face and I grimace at the feeling.

»I have an idea how we could fix this mishap..«

I try to pull away but he grabs at his belt and I think I've got just the Idea.

___

He pulls at my hair, bringing my head back as I gasp for air. Tears run freely down my cheeks as I choke on his precum and my own saliva, barely catching a breath before he brings my head back down, stuffing my mouth.

»Yo-You know— haah..«

He bites at his lips before pulling my head off again.

»I usually don't do this but.. celestia.. I couldn't help myself..«

I sob as he brings me up by my collar, chasing my mouth with his own. He groans as our lips connect, moving together furiously, melting into each other. A string of saliva connects us as he pulls away, the scene is absolutely filthy.

»The way you looked up at me.. dear Tsaritsa.. haa—«

He groans as I trace my hand up his length and attempt sink back to my knees to finish what I've started but he stops me, gripping my arm before I could. I look up at him again and he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Suddenly I'm flipped around and over his desk as he grips my hair, forcing me forward. I gasp as he grips my hips, leaning over my body.

»You know... I'm tempted to sign you up as my personal assistant right about now. You'd like that, wouldn't you?«

He says as he slowly slides pulls my pants down, slapping my ass.

»I asked you a question.«

He grips my throat and shoves me further into the table and I cry out. His cold rings making me shiver.

»Y-Yes! I would love to—«

He slaps me again, this time harder before pulling my undergarments off with such force I swear to everything I own I could have heard a rip. I can hear the grin on his face as he speaks again, fingers tracing my opening.

»I'm sure of it..«

He slides his fingers inside my heat, curling them upwards and I jolt, sobbing into my hand.

»We'll have to train you then, you said you were a fast learner? Did I hear that right?«

I simply nod but he frowns, not that I could see it, of course. He removes his fingers with a whine from my side and smacks my ass again, hard enough to leave a mark.

»I expect a proper answer whenever I ask you a question.«

»Y-Yes! Ye—ees My Lord!«

He grins again, rubbing the spot he just struck.

»Wonderful, don't you worry I'll call off my next meeting then we'll have plenty of time!« ｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ

Written by DottoreEnjoyer69 on AO3

[starsnsparkl3s]

broken promises

cw: heavy mentions of death and suicidal thoughts, angst, based on this scene from greys anatomy with no context

"when are you going to stop suggesting that im suicidal?"

the question sounds also bizarre coming out of your lips. you and al haitham have been going back and forth about your results from the impromptu search nahida and the esteemed traveler did, along with paimon. you were a suspect in a dream that needed to be destroyed immediately, however, what they saw was worse than the dream that was the main goal.

dark images flickered around them, unlike all the previous dreams, full of emotions and color. hallucinations of various shades of red surrounded them, it felt as if they were being suffocated from being in your head to begin with. of course, for your own health, they told your husband, al haitham, about the pictures they saw. he tried talking to you about it, which resulted in the conflict in front of you now.

he took your weapon away from you, the weapon you used to protect sumeru, not caring if you put your life on the line. it was your job after all, but not even cyno was that careless.

"when you start acting like someone who wants to be alive."

your eyebrow raised, scoffing. as much as you loved al haitham, he really was insufferable sometimes and moments like this are were you wished he wasn't so stubborn. however, you were stubborn as well.

"give me my weapon back."

"why?”

" because im not suicidal and if you believe that, you’re wrong. "

now it was his turn to scoff. he put his hand on his hip and stared at you. the person he fell in love with, void of sentiment and passion. you still looked as lovely as the first time he met you but now you looked just as dead as carcasses he'll see in the desert. a few seconds pass before he responds.

"what happened last year when you fell in the water?”

your blood ran cold as the words left his mouth. last year you were trying to save a group of kids that were playing in one of the construction sites, which wasn't sturdy whatsoever. as you saved all the kids, one by one, the wood holding up the base of the building fell into the water. one of the kids started crying, saying how they needed to go in the water to get their photograph.

it was a photograph of them and their parents, who apparently passed. and you went in there. without a second thought. the water pricked your skin because of how cold it was, but you still went in and got that photograph. after you got out, soaked with the picture still in tack, the kids thanked you profusely and left. you passed out soon after, the hypothermia and the water pressure almost taking you out. al haitham wasn't pleased but nothing he could say could ever change your mind.

"i almost drowned! you think i did that for kicks?”

"you went in a body of water that was CLEARLY too cold and too deep for you to handle.”

"i was trying to save his picture!”

your head pounded with nothing. you were frustrated of course, but your body didn't feel anything. you couldn't tell that your headache was a migraine, it just felt, heavy.

"why is it, that every person there, even cyno, had the sense to leave and run from the danger besides you?”

you went to quip back but he continued.

"you know, people run away from this line between life and death. you just seem to stand on it as if it's a tightrope in the middle of the hurricane, waiting for it to push you one way or the other.”

you crossed your arms. you'd hate to admit it, but he was right. you didn't see an actual purpose into living besides protecting sumeru. you never had an urge to run for safety

"you're careless with your life. you're not trying to kill yourself, but you're careless."

your eyes filled with tears with his words. your head felt heavy and dizzy, your vision going in and out like a bad '50s movie. your body shook in some emotion you couldn't even tell at this point. you knew he wanted to help and he was worried, al haitham has always been like this. pushy and unforgiving with hid care.

“i am NOT carele-!”

“not even cyno would pull the shit you do. not even the TRAVELER THEMSELVES, would pull the shit you do. all three of you do implausible nonsense warranting such-”

“I DO IT FOR THE PEOPLE OF SUMERU,” your voice softening from the sudden uproar as the next few words leave your mouth, “…and you know that al haitham.”

his heart feels like it got chipped with one of liyue’s finest pickaxes. strong enough to break the outside but careful enough to preserve the inside. his voice wavers, but his next words make the tears from your eyes fall harder.

“no, you do it for yourself. you do it just for the chance of losing your life. just for the off chance, that you get caught in the storm and you die with a purpose.”

an: im back!!!!!!! ignore how bad this is i finished it at 5am so i had something for you guys…. apologies!

[loveandleases]

!!Tumblr-versary!!

So, apparently my 1 year tumblr-versary is today!? I feel like it went by oh so fast. (Uni is partly to blame for that.) I'm officially sick, so I'm going to spend a disgusting amount of time today playing Fields of Mistria (and hydrating~). I wanted to do a nice little post but couldn't really settle on anything in particular, so instead I thought I would give a little glimpse of MC & Aunt Emma time. (this is now a deleted scene, below the cut~)

“We have that in common.” she swats your hand away when you reach for another potato.

You wince at the stinging sensation, though in all honestly you were being dramatic, she barely touched you. Rubbing the back of your hand, you give her a questioning glance, “What?”

Emma smirks and if you had to be honest, it's the same as your mother's, though you don't dare tell her that. “We both have bitches for sisters.”

A laugh bursts from you abruptly as your aunt’s words catch you off guard. It fills the room, echoing with a mixture of amusement and surprise. The other patrons turn to stare at you, your aunt shushing you.

Leaning back in your chair you take her in, her eyes crinkled, as small crowfeet lined her deep brown eyes. Laugh lines add a softness to her round face, her almond-shaped eyes like your mother’s, and her hair the color of your grandfather’s, a ruddy brown.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell her you said that,” you say, taking a breadstick and setting it on your aunt’s plate.

She scoffs, “No please do! Save me the trouble of doing it.”

Shaking your head at her, you pick up your phone noticing the time, 11:47 p.m. With a heavy sigh, you feel her gaze on you. “What?”

Emma grabs the breadstick and sticks it into her handbag. So that's where Cam picked that habit up.

She clasped her hands together and leaned towards you. “Are you happy?”

Her question causes you to pause, why would she ask that?

You feel yourself nodding at her, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“No reason, I just want to make sure. I guess we should be headed home then before they usher us out.”

Looking around the restaurant, you see only a handful of patrons left. Many are already calling for their checks to be paid.

“I guess so. Want me to walk you to the L?” You knew your aunt hated taking the train this late at night, but it would be safer for her to take the train home than walking back.

Emma shakes her head, “No need, but you can pay for the meal. And walk me out.”

That was something you always enjoyed about your aunt. She didn’t care to say what she was thinking, even if it was as simple as saying she didn’t want to pay for dinner.

You hail the waiter, pay for your meal, get a doggy bag of leftovers to take home, and then walk arm-in-arm with your aunt outside. As you wait for the walk indicator to tell you that you can safely cross the road, she turns to you, grinning ear to ear. “You know, I slept with a Clarke once.”

Before you can stop yourself, because surely you shouldn’t be that curious about your aunt’s love life, you feel the words coming out of your mouth, “As in their first name was Clarke? Or do you mean to tell me you slept with one of my soon-to-be in-laws?”

She pulls you tighter to her side, “Ask me again when I’m drunk.”

[lover-of-mine]

Me? Wanting to talk about the locker room scene in comparison to the cemetery scene to make a point no one asked about? Raise your hand if you saw this is coming 🙋‍♀️

Anyway, this is madness written by a gifmaker/video editor who hates coloring the cemetery scene with a burning passion and who spent the better part of the past 2 days trying to make a coloring work for the locker room scene, who also did some asking around with other editors who also seem to be having issues with the scene, and who spends way too much time thinking about Buck and death (someone drown that man, please).

I'm gonna start this off by saying that I don't really believe the cemetery scene will be directly addressed on the show no matter how much I wish it would. But something about the cemetery scene besides the actual content of the scene that keeps me up at night and had me writing multiple fics dealing with it, is the fact that the sky is only blue behind Eddie.

Why is that relevant in any way, shape, or form? The colors when the focus is on Buck or both of them have this almost yellowish tone that the focus on Eddie doesn't have. The sky and colors strongly imply that they added a filter to it in post-production to ensure the colors looked like that, along with the fact that it is a scene that's really weird to color something that happens when they go too hard on the filters *cough* crossover *cough* pilot *cough*. What does that have to do with the locker room? The locker room also has this almost yellowish tone that makes it hell to color. But based on my 2 days of testing different colorings and techniques, it seems to be a hell of a lot worse when the shot has that wall over there where the sun is hitting as a background.

That suggests that they wanted the scenes to have a specific lighting that they achieved later. Considering the way that the tendency of the cemetery is that the colors get muted or weirdly blended together and that the locker room goes YELLOW, I am assuming that they messed with the colors on the cemetery to make the colors look faded, giving it that gloomy feeling, which in turn made the sky almost white, and that they needed that sunlight reflecting on the wall to look that bright, which made the scene look a lot more yellow than it should. Seriously, trying to work this out I legit make it look like Buck is a Simpsons character.

Okay, but Anna, why did you make this particular connection? Well, the word is muted when Buck is talking about starting to date Natalia and then the sun gets brighter when he talks about them breaking up? COME ON. He's calling the relationship boring and the word literally gets brighter as he says it, madness.

Buck talking about dating Natalia -> Buck talking about breaking up with Natalia (please don't judge the gifs I don't want the stress of coloring them combined right now lol)

But that's the same reaction. Dude is smiling going in, he's smiling going out.

And considering Buck's relationship with his own death and the way I strongly believe that what drew him to Natalia was the fact that she didn't think his death was a tragedy and he wasn't ready to deal with the reality of had happened to him yet, to get him to the point where death is boring is progress. Makes me fear for my Buck breakdown wishes, but it is progress for that particular aspect of Buck, considering he has a very intricate relationship with death down to the fact he was born as a hail mary to prevent it. We have multiple near-death experiences, we have him saving the lives of people loves multiple times, the first time we see him he's saving a kid who drowned, his first big conflict is the fact that he's not handling not being able to save someone's life all that well, I can keep going, but you see my point, right?

The arc with Natalia, even though we didn't see the originally planned conclusion since the actress couldn't come back, had this point of Buck looking at what happened to him through the eyes of someone who didn't know him before and was actually excited about that happening, so he could distance himself from what happened and look at it from a "safe" distance. That distance also allowed him to ignore the very important "I need to do this for myself" thing from the coma dream because Buck is terrified of being alone, and that definitely includes the fear of finding out who he is by himself. Buck is bad at being alone, from meaningless sex, to hanging on to Abby too long, to hanging on to Taylor too long, to jumping in with Natalia, the first pretty girl who looked his way, it all makes this part of him very clear (parenthesis because I just had a thought, yes, Buck latches on to Taylor out of fear of being alone triggered by Eddie almost dying, but he thought he could have died himself considering the crane and everything about it and also the way he could very much have been shot at the same time as Eddie, he latched on to Natalia because he did die, he also almost died on his first date with Abby and Abby actually reached out to him when he was feeling all sorts of bad over someone dying, and he is held at gunpoint and watched a death that deeply affected him before he started dating Ali, so we have death as a connection here too, if that makes sense, I might have to come back to this thought later).

But the thing is, when you look at 6a for Buck considering the fact that Buck is passively suicidal, in a very I'm not trying to get killed but I don't think I don't care if I do die way, and how he probably thought he was going to die in a blaze of glory saving someone, and how he actually died in a pretty run-of-the-mill call, by something no one has any control over it, Buck's relationship with what he thought death was and would be for him changed. For one, Buck was not ready for how much it affected everyone around him, he never considered what the grief of losing him would do to the people he loves, but also, Buck's main excuse for his near-death experiences/impulsive behavior that puts him in mortal danger was "but I didn't actually die" like with the blood clots or "I didn't get the worst of it" like with the shooting, I think even the tsunami a little bit with how he felt about losing Chris. But he did actually die, and considering the fact that he went up that ladder when Chimney was ready to go up and Eddie also got hit by the lightning, he also got the worst of it. So he lost his own coping mechanism.

So he arrived at a point where death is boring and he is smiling like an idiot at Eddie welcoming him "back to the world of the living" and that could have fun implications going forward. Because, one, he still hasn't dealt with a big emotion in a healthy way, and two, Bobby is in mortal danger. Considering his reaction to Bobby being dead in his coma world and the fact that he has no coping mechanism left when it comes to death anymore along with his own relationship with water and danger we could have some fun reactions to these types of triggers for him there.

And thinking about the way Oliver keeps talking about Buck learning more about himself and also about Buck leaning on Eddie, someone who had his own journey dealing with multiple layers of his relationship with death, they have a fun space to play with there, with Buck's relationship with death, Eddie's relationship with Buck's death, and everything else that could happen with Eddie fully dealing with Shannon's death, and Buck dealing with anything really, Daniel, his own death, his fear of being alone, all as someone who actually wants to live, who's not just moving because he's alive and has no other alternative.

That's it for today, as always, if you reached this I love you 💜

[luckyartdrawer]

"You'll save me, right Starshine???"

Close ups, Commentary, & Spoilers (In that order) below the break

Increasingly closer Sun oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Friendship with photoshop is over. Krita is my best friend now. (Seriously it feels 10x harder to draw in photoshop even though it has more quality of life stuff.)

PAINTERLY SHADING YEAHHHHHH

I wish I only had to do the coloring and shading/lighting on Sun. It was so fun but I am terrible with backgrounds...

Also, I know Star is my ANE blorbo, but I keep shying away from drawing/rendering them. I have started a sketch sesh to make a sheet for them, but it's a bit hard to dedicate to a specific design when its all up to you. o3o (I haven't drawn a legitimate OC in agesssss.)

Spoiler:

I couldn't help but draw this scene from ch 28. of my story ANE. I adore an unhinged Sun AND I TOOK TOO LONG TO GET TO IT. I had to draw it - It won't get out of my head!!!

Ik the chapter doesn't explicitly say what the scene looked like, but when y'all see the other perspective next chapter, just think about this. :)

[whiteheartlight]

(An intro scene for a story I've written bits and pieces of, but might not ever post in full. About Jaller and his guilt, mostly.)

.

It was the burst of color, Jaller realizes later, that woke Kongu up entirely.

The appearance of the Toa Hagah inside the Skakdi fortress didn't register with any of them as anything other than a nuisance, as far as he knows. Hahli took Norik to the ground like she had never had any other goal in life, and the rest of them rushed hotly into battle after her. He remembers Hewkii whooping, glad to have a break in the monotony, glad to have an enemy to throw against the wall, but then Kongu put that ax into Kualus's shoulder, and wow, fireworks. Kualus was silver and pure bright white one moment, and then the next – an explosion of purple ichor splattered across himself and Kongu both, and Iruini yelled so loudly it echoed in Jaller's audio receptors for long minutes after.

“Mata Nui,” said Kongu, as Kualus crashed to the ground with a choke. “Kualus, I – I – Mata Nui. What... are we doing?”

“Kualus!” Iruini darted between the battle to get to his brother, even as Gaaki knocked Nuparu solidly out on the other side of the room. Jaller's mask warned him of the loud sounds of oncoming Skakdi, but he couldn't think to say anything about it. Two minutes ago everything in the world made sense. Now something's wrong.

“Bomonga?” Hewkii asked in bewilderment, his spear slipping out of his hand. “Why are we fighting?”

“Easy, all of you, take it easy,” Pouks shouted over everyone. “Okay, stop, you're okay. Something got in your heads. Kopaka sent us to help. We're going to get you out of this, just try to think clearly.”

Hahli shook her head hard and regained herself – she's always so sturdy like that, always so determined to bounce right back. She hurried to help Iruini with Kualus, falling to her knees beside them and trying to tend the injury. Jaller remembers pushing back from Pouks to get a better look, morbidly enthralled. Kualus was struggling to breathe. Kongu pierced him deeply, from his shoulder towards his throat.

“Jaller,” said Norik, approaching and grabbing him harshly, clasping his shoulders tight. “Jaller, look at me. We need to know who got in your heads like this. We will figure everything out, but we have to handle whoever is controlling you to get you all free.”

“Will he die?” Jaller asked instead of replying. “I've never seen Matoro bleed like that.”

Something flashed over Norik's face. “Brother, it's Kualus.”

“I tried to stop him from leaving,” Jaller tried again, sensing that they weren't understanding each other. “I would have died instead of him. Don't you believe me?”'

“Jaller – ”

“It's the – the big mutated thing with the gold skin,” Hewkii rasped, interrupting them. “Norik, there was some kind of prophecy. They combined a group of beings in energized protodermis. I don't know where the psionic powers came from, but the moment it was created, it was in our heads. We didn't even have a chance to fight it off. It will do the same to you – we should run!”

“The lot of us have plenty of experience fighting off psionic influence,” Gaaki said. “Roodaka couldn't turn us into Rahi, and this being won't turn us into servants.”

“Pouks,” Norik said. “Your mask – you'll match its powers, if only for a few minutes, and then you can make sure everyone's mind is clear. Bomonga, grow, intimidate it. Iruini, find it.”

“I need to stay with Kualus and keep him breathing,” Iruini protested.

“I'll do it, I'll do it,” Kongu said, voice increasingly thin. “I – I'm so sorry, I never meant – I'll help, I swear, please – ”

“We all would have saved him if we could,” Jaller insisted, grabbing Norik's arm. “It's my fault, not theirs.”

“Jaller, listen, you have to keep it together for your team. We're going to get you back to safety, little brother, I swear.”

Yes, Kongu came back to himself in that flash of ichor, and so did the others, he thinks, but Jaller felt so hazy, so lost, alone in that moment. Wasn't the Gold-Skinned Being in charge? Aren't things better that way? What has his leadership ever led to but Ice Toa dying at his feet? He blinked and saw purple ichor, golden fire. His brother eaten alive by the destiny he led him to.

Norik turned away from him, readying his siblings for another battle while the others tried to orient themselves or help Kualus, whose ichor was pooling on the stone floor, approaching Jaller's feet. The door on the other side of the room slammed as a pair of Skakdi came up the stairs to interrupt their reunion, and Hewkii and Pouks both charged at them together. Jaller turned away and left through the other door. He needed to get back to the Gold-Skin. That was where he belonged.

“Jaller!” someone called after him, but he didn't know whose voice it was. He still doesn't. In his memory, the next few minutes seem to pulse like a heartlight, throbbing through his head, so clear and so warped at the same time.

“Fire Toa,” said the Gold-Skin, who was coming down from its tower already. It grabbed Jaller by the arm, yanking him towards it. The second it touched him, he heard himself gasp, and he was glad he came back to it. Of course he belonged to this being. He didn't know his own name. He was just the Fire Toa who served it. Its grip on his arm was painfully tight. “Why are your siblings free?”

“There are invaders,” he managed. “They'll come to fight you too. Experienced Toa with masks to rival your powers – you should run.”

“Run? I can handle another five Toa.”

“Six,” Jaller corrected.

“Oh, yes, I forgot you're missing a piece of your set.” It pulled at Jaller again, and he resisted the urge to scream: it was gripping his arm so tightly he thought the metal might be bending. “Well, they'll destroy the fortress, I suppose, there's no getting past that. Trouble of dealing with Toa: there are always more of them. But I so love to have the elements tamed under my hand.”

“I can be useful,” Jaller said, trying to breathe through the pain.

“Yes, maybe you can. You know what a Nova blast is, don't you, Toa of Fire?”

“Yes,” he said. He's so grateful it always knows the right next step. “Yes, that would work. The others could try to stop me, but that would give you time to prepare for them.”

“Very well, then, but no room for error.” It touched his mask and he choked on a wave of power, nearly crumpling, and it let him fall to his knees. When his eyes flashed open, there was nothing left in his head but its command.

“You don't need to survive it,” it added, turning away from it. “In fact, maybe you shouldn't.”

“Yes,” he remembers saying. “I understand.”

And he did understand, very clearly. It was all he understood. The need to destroy himself.

Gold light eating him alive. Destiny is always sacrificial. He heard himself laughing. He understood completely.

He thinks Norik held him to his chest and screamed. He thinks their armor grew soft against their bodies. But it's hard to remember beyond what he's been told. Really, in his memory, there is nothing else there but the heat.

[hatterladz]

“Yes, dear,” Fanny said. A damsel in distress. A cussing damsel in distress. She didn’t need saving. She’d chosen this. Had Cup done the same? No, he was a child. It had to have been different. Was he waiting to be saved? Why couldn’t he save himself? Fanny spotted her reflection in the hallway mirror. Why couldn’t he save himself?

-Chapter 348: Rabbit Reflections

No Text and Rambles below

"Why couldn't he save himself?" / "Why can't I save myself?"

I jumped through so many hurdles to try to get this finished. From making an entire wallpaper pattern that I'd only fade and edit to my desires to having an entirely different drawing as a reference picture so I could figure out how to draw her all the way to looking up dozens of references in the 1920s. I was determined to finish this.

I would've used text but procreate doesn't have that? Not that I've found. So my handwriting it is. Hopefully it's legible, if not that's the quotes underneath that last picture. I went with color instead of grayscale bc I missed my colors... How am I supposed to thrive without my wacky colors?

Now to talk about Fanny, so headsup some mentions of domestic violence this does get a bit more serious.

This version of Fanny is my favorite character when it comes to depictions of abusive relationships hands down. I've been in a similar situation in my life before so to grow up, get older and understand these subjects and to see how well it's depicted and carefully it's treated has me jumping off the walls.

This moment specifically hit hard for me. The implied "why can't I save myself?" as she looks in the mirror, was painfully relatable. I don't think most understand how genuinely difficult it is to leave an abusive partner [especially as a woman in the 1920s!!! I hope Fanny gets out okay!] and how much more you'd have to sacrifice to get out of that situation

No matter how much support you have it will ALWAYS be hard. I especially love how Cup's relationship with Fanny has shifted from romantic to Cup genuinely trying to support her and how Vicious coached him. Because yes that's the correct thing to do. Which is to be there for them.

No matter how much you want them to leave them or for their s/o to drop dead or how frustrating they are about staying, the most important thing is to support them.

I hope I did this scene the justice I was thinking of giving it when I read this. I do love Fanny and hope to see her in a healthier situation and picking up better habits. Which might be the direction she's going with recent events, so that's exciting!

Anyway I've rambled enough lol hope you guys like this it felt like forever to finish it

[iongsiyi]

All The Bright Places

I'm broken, and no one can fix it. I've tried. I'm still trying. I can't love anyone because it's not fair to anyone who loves me back.

In 2020, I lost my soulmate. He was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder but unfortunately did not get the treatment he needed.

In 2024, I was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder. I am getting the treatment I need and having a support system around me that allows me to heal at my own pace.

But not everyone gets to have their own happy ending.

The suicide of my ex-boyfriend left an irreversible impact on me. I was also bullied by our mutual friends, blaming me for what happened with him. I was most certainly at the lowest point of my life.

I remember vividly the day I was told the news by our principal, walked downstairs to the scene where it was barricaded, police everywhere. I had to stumble my way to the train station, falling midway just to let out a sob that I was holding in.

Ever since what happened, whenever I read the book, I think of myself as Violet, losing her loved one to suicide because of bipolar. But now my perspectives have shifted, I sometimes wonder, I may be Finch in reality.

Finch was a wild spirit, loving to wander, teaching Violet step by step to walk out of her trauma of losing her sister in a car accident.

But in learning all that, I missed seeing Finch, I missed seeing that he was in pain.

My ex-boyfriend made me slowly open up my heart since my last relationship that ended terribly, he taught me to love, love others and myself, that I am worth something. I was a fire ignited, a lightning strike that revived his heart, and I was his soulmate.

But I missed seeing that he was in immense pain, he was broken in a way that he thought he couldn't be saved. He sent me two messages before he jumped, and were shortly deleted afterwards. Were they a call for help? A last declaration of love? Or he hated the fact that I couldn't help him the way he helped me?

I would never get my answer.

Finch left a quote that will be forever engraved in my heart,

You are all the colors in one, at full brightness.

Violet and I can be. As long as we look in the right direction. As long as we look in our direction.

Finch and Hedy were in pain, but helped us overcome the pain that we were going through, guiding us down the right path, even though theirs ended way earlier than it should have.

But we remember moments, and those moments will stick with us forever.

The thing I realize is that it’s not what you take, but it’s what you leave.

[suzyandthefox]

Meeting the Ferryman

Behold, my actual first Vore fic, I wrote this an entire year ago as a stupid joke to troll my friends and look where am I now

I notice that my style barely changed.

As usual, soft safe g/t vore, unwilling prey and some sadness (but happy ending

Taglist: @pineappleparfaitie @opikarts @dav8530 @flights-of-fangcy (ask to be added)

Word count: 1500~

It was the coldest night of your life, and you were sure it was going to be the last.

You hugged yourself for comfort and any glimpse of warmth, and evaded your eyes from the seemingly endless scene of snow, your mind wandered back.

Life was never easy for you as a borrower, the world was always far too big for you,and everything wanted a piece of you, quite literally.

And just when you thought it can't get worse than that, the humans took you and your parents away, you tried to rescue them but it was far too late, you barely saved yourself.

Even that seemed regrettable now, something inside you wished you died there instead of being thrown here,alone,with hypothermia eating at you.

You weakly prayed that an angel would come and save you, as you couldn't save yourself, the tips of your fingers and toes are getting blue, you got a frostbite.

And salvation found you, in the form of the tallest human you have ever seen.

Shrouded in darkness, his shadow swallowed you whole.

Your eyes widened in horror as it met his gray eyes,the same color as the concrete buried under the snow.

Long,thin,gloved fingers came to scoop you from the cold ground.

You tried to scream, no voice left your throat but pitiful whimpers and begging sobs.

You wriggled and tried to pry your way from the grasp, until your eyes met with the human's eyes again.

A moment of silence, you saw your reflection in your captor's eyes, and a voice inside you whispered that he might not hurt you.

"?You alright" 

His voice was gentle, if a bit raspy and tired.

You found yourself holding to his thumb, weakly asking him to not hurt you.

As a response to your plea, his gaze at you softened, and his closed fist opened into a welcoming hand.

"I won't hurt you,little one, it's going to be alright, everything will be alright. "

You let out a yelp as he held you close to his chest, and lifted his coat over you, you were covered in warmth for a moment, completely absorbed in it.

Then it dawned on you, a horrifying realization.

This man has no heartbeat.

Or warmth.

Tears filled your eyes, and fear struck your heart like an arrow of fire, your savior isn't human, but a creature of the night, or perhaps far worse.

He must've heard you crying,as you felt a stroking motion on your back.

.

?"Y…You're not a human, are you"

You meekly asked him.

You didn't see his eyes, nor did you hear him sigh, but the pain and … guilt in his voice shook your core.

"No, little one, I'm not."

You had no response, except to take a fistful of his shirt in your miniscule hand, you buried your face in his chest, feeling his ribcage underneath.

There's a heart there, you reassured yourself.

Better a kind monster than a cruel human.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" 

He asked you as his finger kept stroking your back.

"No.."

Your voice was barely audible.

"I'm taking you somewhere safe then, is that okay?"

You nodded as your fear faded away, there was nothing but complete trust.

But soon your fears would resurface as the kind stranger looked at you with deep guilt.

“I apologize for this, but it's for your own good”

You were confused at first, until you saw his jaws open and horrifying,huge fangs glinted in the moonlight, your heart rate began speeding.

“Wait… wait no… no no no!”

What was a gentle dream was turning into a nightmare as you were eased into the open jaws and then sealed in darkness.

It was warmer than outside, but still cold,it smelled of smoke,A lot of it.

There was the faintest glimmer of hope that he would find your taste bitter and just spit you out, since he didn't seem to be enjoying this as well.

“Please don't eat me…” 

You begged, your tears returning fresh and streaming across your cheeks, you felt him wince at the salty taste.

But alas, whatever hope you have left died as the tongue underneath you shifted,and you fell back towards the point of no return, powerful muscles holding you before the dreaded moment came.

And he swallowed you, whole and alive.

You closed your eyes and cried as you waited to perish,  the environment around you was further proof that he is anything but human,you at least expected a heartbeat,or a breath,but it was dead silent here.

From the tight yet snug esophagus,you were taken towards the much roomier stomach, everything about this did not make any sense.

You laid down, still sobbing,the room around you is lukewarm and soft to the touch, as if the monster’s  flesh was carrying you with the same kindness that he treated you with.

You gathered what's left of courage to sit down and paw the stomach wall, asking the one who devoured you a single question.

“Why?”

You flinched as you felt a gentle pressure from the outside, and your answer came, carried with the guilt and pain of a thousand years.

“Sweet little one, please don't cry, I'm sorry, I'm so very very sorry…” It sounded as if he himself was going to cry.

“I know you think I want to hurt you, or worse, but I won't,I promise you,I know you are scared and I should've warned you better, but please, please don't cry, you are safe,you are alright.”

Hearing his voice and the fatherly tone it held had eased your worries a bit,and feeling him acknowledging your existence inside him has given you more courage.

Your fear turned into fury as you kicked him,or his stomach wall anyway.

“You! Ate! Me! Swallowed me whole! How do you expect me to be okay with it!?”

“Aye! I know I deserve it but just because my organs are vestigial doesn't mean they don't hurt!” 

You were glad that you annoyed him,if you were going to be a prisoner in the belly of the beast you may as well make him regret it.

“What’s vestigial anyway?” You asked as you pulled back, the limited air in here made it hard to continue fighting. It did, however,usher you to sleep, like the softest bed to ever exist.

“It means that they are useless,My stomach is basically nothing but a sack of meat,I can't digest anything besides blood.” He patiently explained.

“Useless for it's purpose,that is, but it makes for a perfect place to hide something precious and small…” He continued as you felt him pressing inwards and rubbing , you were unsure if he was soothing you or the pain that you caused.

“Or someone.” Warmness flushed your cheeks,was he calling you precious? Now that you think about it,it all made sense, he did,in fact, promise you safety,and apologized a lot.

You start to see the gentle organ that surrounds you in a different light,it wasn't a prison,but a home,a home hidden deeply inside a friend.

You did want to be safe, and is there anywhere in the world safer than inside an incarnation of death?

“Are you feeling better now? Still angry at me for gobbling you up?” 

You chuckled,and hugged one of the chamber’s walls. They squished you and almost lifted you, like a warm cradle.

“Well aren't you adorable? Keep being sweet like this and I might keep you in there for a good while~” He teased at first, but then reassured you, he won't handle scaring you again.

“Don’t worry,You will only be in my stomach for as long as needed, I'm here if you need anything.”

You nodded, forgetting for a moment that he can't see you,and hugged the walls again.

"What's your name by the way?" 

"(Your name),and thank you… for everything.”

“I'm sorry I freaked out and kicked you”

"Pleased to meet you, you can call me Lumen."

“And don't worry about it,I did deserve those kicks after all.”

You smiled, you finally had a name for this undead savior.

Who you first thought to be Death himself, was, at least to you, an angel of mercy.

You began drifting off to a soft,dreamless sleep, now that you felt enough comfort, with one thought in your mind.

You are safe now.

________________________

[stellocchia]

i was wondering if you have any ideas for how hopper chara would look besides being yk chara + if you have any other theater au ideas you wanna share :D

Sorry it took me a while to respond, but I actually wanted to try and design Hopper, so here's a look at them:

Humans are not my strong suit, but I'm satisfied with how they came out!

The glitching gets more or less intense depending on how much determination they've managed to accumulate. If the determination gets too low, they become translucent and lose their corporeality (is that what it's called?).

As for other details on the AU:

Gaster is the director. He's the boss here, meaning he chooses the play they're gonna perform, assigns the roles, and directs all the behind the scenes stuff too. He does not act because he feels that his appearance is too unsettling for people (he's just very insecure).

Asgore only looks behind the scenes. He works on the lights, the costumes, the props, and the scenography. He has too much stage fright for acting, but he likes keeping busy, so the behind the scenes stuff is perfect for him.

Killer is an actor, but he also helps with the costumes because he discovered when giving it a try randomly one day that he actually quite enjoys the process.

Hopper also takes part in the acting, but also helps with the lights and whatever technology there is. They're an iPad kid, they're good with that stuff.

Mettaton of course is the star of the show. He always tries to get the main roles (all of them. He'd play both Romeo and Juliet if given the chance basically). He also always insists that they should try doing a musical because he's a big fan of those, but so far he's never had any luck

Undyne loves acting but she's unfortunately really not good at it. She's got so much passion though that Gaster always gives her a role. Though, for the most part, she tends to take care of dance choreographies and whatever other physically demanding stunts she manages to convince the others to put in.

Also, I mentioned it before, but all of them had some troubled pasts.

I mentioned that Hopper was locked in a never-ending fight with the Player. However, with the cast of their world being unaware of the Player's existence, they were just left with the feeling of unease around Hopper given by the fact that they'd been possessing them. After getting rid of the Player, Hopper couldn't handle the constant suspicion and distrust from everyone else, so they tried to erase themselves... Thankfully, Core found them in time and offered them an out.

Asgore is from a classic AU and he's still dealing with the grief of losing his kids, his wife, and having to kill all those children. He's especially awkward around Color because he can see the human souls and the guilt that resurfaces paralyzes him every time.

Undyne comes from a Dancetale AU. Unfortunately, she was always just as aggressive as a classic Undyne which ended up making her rather unpopular in her world. Especially since she was just as rough with Frisk as she's always been and, well, with Frisk being the savior of monsterkind that was... quite something. That said, she doesn't particularly care about what people think. She's got a girlfriend and a best friend in her Papyrus and those are all the people that matter to her.

Mettaton is from an Underfell AU. He was built exclusively as a murder robot and he can't fight to save his life. It goes without saying that he was considered a failed experiment and he was sent to be dismantled. He managed to talk his way out of the execution but only just barely, though that did mean that he wasn't front and center when the human came in, so he managed to survive their rampage. All the survivors were led out by Core, but Mettaton avoids them all as much as he can. He does, however, get along with the Flowey from his world who also did manage to survive.

Gaster is just a cryptid ngl. My guy is supposed to be scattered across time and space but he said 'no' to that. Nobody is quite sure what his deal is. He's there though. And he's got a passion for theatrics and literature. He sometimes mentions things like "I'm banned from most AUs" or "I lost my teaching license due to The Incident™". He's such a weirdo, but it's hard not to get along with him.