#i couldnt do it perfectly but it looks enough like him that its sufficient

[old-stoneface]

playing baldursgay 3 co-op with my boyfriend @/merlinmerlot :) hes playing as astarion and im playing as a tiefling paladin named fortunate

[kiwisfics]

[Nova and Hancock/Nick]

X

  Stares were something Nova was used to.

  Not only was she nearly always accompanied by either a ghoul or synth - many times, both - but she plodded around with a deathclaw too.

  Stares and muttering didn't bother her anymore, however, having her boys refused food and drink in one of her own settlements burned her up.

  Nova's feet rested on Nick's lap, boots discarded under the table, as they waited for Hancock to return from purchasing a new shotgun.

  "This settlement is getting pretty large."

  Nova hummed in response to Nick's comment. He was right. She knew settlements tended to grow larger in between her visits, but something was bothering her. Her feet fell from Nick's lap as she stuffed them into her boots.

  Hancock, looking disgruntled and having his face covered with a mask, returned. He clearly hadm't purchased a shotgun. "Sunshine, is it just me or is it lookin' a little smooth around here?"

  "Yeah," Nova huffed out her agreement as she roughly zipped her boots, "I noticed." She doubted the bartender would recognize her - he was a fresh face - but she still wasn't risking a sugarcoating of what was clearly going on if he did recognize her. "Can I borrow that mask? Anyone messes with ya I'll handle 'em."

  As Hancock handed her the mask, Nick chided her, "Be careful, Nova, they won't respect you if they don't know who you are."

  Her shoulders were already tensed, anger rolling off of her in waves. "I will, but they clearly need to be reminded of Minutemen morals."

  She sauntered to the bar, gaining the attention of its tender quickly as she hopped onto a stool. His eyes darted to her clevage, exposed by the unbuttoned plaid shirt and tank top she was wearing, before he gave her a smug grin.

  "What can I do for you?"

  The mask covered only her mouth and nose, her eyes perfectly visible as her steely gaze focused on the man. "I couldn't help but notice there's no ghouls wandering around. There any reason for that?"

  The bartender laughed, though Nova's expression remained steadfast, "No ghouls here, you don't have to worry your pretty little head," Nova's jaw clenched, teeth gritting painfully, she did not like that, "the Minutemen don't check in often and when they do, they don't question the lack of ghouls. Its all the same to us, rather not have those-"

  Before he could finished Nova had pulled down the mask and grabbed a hold of the man's shirt, "Who's grand idea was this?" The man stuttered, clearly recognizing her - must have been the scars.

  "Uh, Norman, his name's Norman Slae. He put himself in charge as soon as he arrived. He's very convincing."

  Nova shoved him back, fully instending on giving him a tongue lashing, but Hancock's voice caught her attention before she got the chance.

  Fury burned in her at the sight of people surrounding her companions and attempting to force them out.

  There was no hesitation when she grabbed and threw a full bottle of wine against the wall, barely missing some of the setters heads. "Everyone, step back!" the words were practically a snarl, rage running through her veins stronger than a stimpak, "How dare any of you go against the code of inviting every settler in need into this settlement," her voice was powerful, booming off of the walls as she stood straight, her height doing nothing to lessen her intimidation.

  She paused, voice even stronger and louder when next she spoke, "Let alone trying to force the general of the Minutemen's closest companions out!"

  "Alright, alright, everyone settle down."

  The stillness that flooded the room was constricting, deafening silence following the voice and the murderous glare given to the speaker.

  "Nova!"

  Of course it was Norman.

  She knew the rat would be trouble from the moment she'd met him.

  He'd looked at her like a piece of meat and he hadn't been shy about sharing his attraction while disregarding her companions. She'd given him a bloody lip when he said Nick needed to be thrown in a scrap pile. She'd do worse this time. This went too far.

  "Is that deathclaw outside the gate Lady? Hardly even recognize her. Has to be yours though. No one else in this settlement is mentally challenged enough to travel with something that ugly," he glanced in Nick and Hancock's direction, "still a lot cuter than the other things you travel with."

  She heard the muffled "oh no" leave Nick's lips before she charged, done seething and ready to give this poor excuse of a man what he'd earned.

  Nova was Intimidating when she was angry, but the settlers - even settlers from before Norman's arrival - had never seen her attack, least of all without her weapons.

  Norman was surprised. A punch was nothing compared to the animalistic way she attacked now.

  Fury continued to bubble within her as her body went into autopilot. Her eyes were blurred. Her fists stung as she slammed them into his face with all the brutality she'd learned from the Commonwealth.

  The taste of her own blood filled her mouth as he managed to get a good shot in.

  A sound, nothing short of a growl, escaped her as she brought her nails across his face.

  When Norman kicked her off she was quickly restrained, Nick's voice calming her as he held her back. "That's enough. You've done enough."

  She relaxed against Nick, spitting out blood as she watched Norman get to his feet. Anger burned his own eyes as he pulled a dagger from a sheath on his belt.

  "Good synth, hold her while I gut her," Nick let go the moment he spoke, but she didn't attack, lest she go running straight into that blade, "Its about time the Minutemen got a better leader. One that ain't sleeping around with monsters and trash heaps."

  She snarled, "C'mon then! I'll show you why I'm the general."

  He charged.

  Before he could reach her, he was stopped. The dagger fell from his fist.

  Hancock pulled his blade from the man's torso, the same knife he'd used on Finn all those months ago. It wasn't a killing blow. "You have about twenty seconds before this exile turns into an execution."

  Norman was already slinking away, holding the hole in his side, "If I ever see your face in one of my settlements again, the only monster is going to be me and the only trash heap is will be the one your corpse is dumped in."

×

  Days had passed since the dramatic confrontation. Nova had made herself at home for an extended stay at the settlement. She was going to ensure that what happened when last she left had no chance of happening again, even if that meant forcefully removing every person who spoke against ghouls or synths.

  Nova stood on a rickety balcony, taking a break from her repair of the pre-war perch, humming a song as Lady peaked up at her. The creaking of the door caught her attention.

  "Would you look at that? I almost forgot you knew how to repair anything other than weapons." Hancock's subtle jab wasn't missed, and he earned himself a playful glare.

  "It has been a little while since I took a break, hasn't it?"

  "Try long," Nick stuck his head out of the door, "you know, you cant make everything perfect."

  "I can watch out for my settlements. Keep men like Norman from hurting more people," it wasn't the first time they had had this conversation. They thought she should care more about herself, but, to her, caring for herself only brought to light her past and flaws. The fact that she was a broken and scarred specimen of a human being, who couldn't protect her son and couldnt even feel desire for what others did. Why shouldn't she spend that time caring for others?

  "You're never going to be able to protect everyone, sunshine. And no matter how much I love seeing you give your all to fight scum like that, you need to relax." Hancock lightly poked the angry bruise on her face, "Any better?"

  "Yeah. Still got a huge cut inside though." Her answer lead to a loaded pause, hesitation clear in her demeanor.

  "What if- what if I can't relax?" Nick and Hancock glanced at each other, worry shining in their eyes as they waited for her to continue. "I just... When I try to stop I just remember everything. I remember that I never got to see my little boy grow up, that I'll never see my family again, that I'm-" she stopped.

  They hated when she said she was broken. In Nick's words, "humans can't be defective, they're not products." And in Hancock's she was "perfect." But still, she didnt understand the lack of desire that came so easily for others.

  "I'm broken. If not that I'm different. And what the point in me even falling in love if I don't care about sex? I should just-" Hancock's lips pressed against her own, cutting off her self deprecating words.

  Her arms immediately wrapped around him, pulling herself against his body and tilting her head back so he could straighten. A disgruntled whine escaped her as he pulled away but Nick quickly pulled her to him, pushing his hat onto her head as he did.

  When he pulled away, Nova was sufficiently breathless, and had a giddy smile on her face.

  "You are not broken."

  She didnt know if she believed it completely, but she knew she loved them, and she finally realized - as her father's words echoed in her mind - love had so much more to it than something as physical as sex.

  And, if she was the only person in this world to fall in love with a ghoul and synth, and if she was the only person in the world to see value in each life, even that of a deathclaw, she was alright with that. Because her family was more than alright with that.

[garethito]

You know... I've been meaning to ask you about this for a while, and yesterday's tag thing that you did with those Bale gifs only like... fueled? My curiosity? Lol, if that makes sense. Could you like... relive? The Champions League final from this year for us? Like, your perspective on it? Or maybe even the actual whole day of the final? Sorry, God, I know this is weird, but I just love how you tell stories from your life! I have seen you do it with some other anons once!

First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this like, you guys always send me such interesting questions and Im so??? and OMG no this is not weird stop this is such a wonderful question to ask!! And omg you liked how I told the stories to those anons that is so sweet thank you so muchhhhh ❤️❤️💝❤️💘💘💞💞💘

But also this is making me really emotional I dont think I will be able to write this without tearing up but here we go!!! I was at school today and we had a special day so we didnt make any classes, so I had time to formulate an answer to this, and to complete it at home 💞

Quick WARNING?? Yes I am perfectly aware of how crazy and overdramatic this whole story sounds, but the thing is that this is how I truly feel about this day in my life. So yeah lol. Football is basically my life!

I would like to start this by saying that the day of the 26th of May 2018 is the most important day of my entire life as a football fan. There is nothing that could even come close to this. Absolutely nothing. Never in my life have I cried like in that night. Never. Absolutely never. I have looked at my life as a person, at my hardest times, when I cried a lot, but not even that can even slightly compare to the amount of crying that I have done on that glorious day of May 7 months ago. When I say crying, though, I dont actually mean crying, no. I mean violently sobbing, screaming at the top of my lungs, shaking and feeling numb. But in the best way possible, the happiest tears that I ever shedded.

My actual perspective, like you said, though, starts from the 2nd of May, a day after our semi-final second leg against Bayern. From that day, until the 26th, my mind, my body, my soul only thought about the final. I could not even focus on the Clasico on the 6th, neither on the last La Liga match. I was so fucking nervous, words are not sufficient to describe….. At least once every 2-3 days I would go to the bathroom with severe stomach aches and sit there until I would try to calm myself down so that my grandmother wouldnt get worried. I thank God, the Universe, or whoever you think invented life for the fact that highschool had nothing special during that period, just a few tests, that I got the best grades on, because had there been something big, I would have surely failed. That was a nightmare. Just think about it. Horrible La Liga season, then those fucking shaky as fuck second leg matches against Juve AND Bayern. I was literally so pessimistic that I am scaring myself right now thinking about it. All these bad scenarios played through my head ���What if Zizou loses his job? What if this will be the start of our downfall? What if this is the last Champions League final we will play? What if, what if, what if….”. I always tried to tell my brain how stupid I was, that we are Real Madrid and that we will win, like we always do, that we are the best fucking team in the Universe and that nobody even comes close to being like us. But its like these voices in my head wouldnt stop, it was so scary.

Come 25th of May I was an actual lifeless corpse. No matter how much I tried to call my best friend, who was in Bulgaria at that time, and telling her that I cant take this anymore, and her telling me that its going to be okay like it always is, that she doesnt really know my team well but she knows we will win, no matter how much of that was happening, I couldnt fucking stop being nervous and constantly thinking about this match.

On the morning of the 26th I woke up with a severe headache at about 8:30-9 AM. The only things that I remember from that whole day are the constant empty feeling, the amount of times I listened to Hala Madrid Y Nada Mas and the amount of pictures, videos, promotional/support videos I saw and watched. I called my friend one last time and I told her that now I am optimistic, that we will win.

My whole emotional state was ruined, however, by Gareth not starting. I dont need to explain the whole February-May Gaz-Zizou situation because I think everyone knows it too well by now and what I fucking felt about it. I have never been so enraged in my entire life. After all he has done, still no place in the starting XI. Though, this is pretty much the only thing that has ever angered me about Zizou. I love that man too much, I dont think there will ever be a coach that will ever come close to him, a coach that I will ever love as much as I loved him, but this whole situation really, really angered me. As I said, not going to get into details, I think that is enough. Though, I tried to only focus on my hardly achieved positivity about the match. 

The match started and my emotional state reached its lowest point. I couldnt take it anymore, I felt impossibly sick from being so nervous, I got the most severe migraine ever, my eyes were literally about to pop out ugh again, remembering that gives me chills. Dani got injured, and I got angry again, because he didnt deserve it, the World Cup was literally about to start like God give this man a break!!!

Halftime at 0-0, my optimism grew, believe it or not. I felt like we will have more urgency in the second half and that we will win this.

The second half came, with me just desperately hoping for a goal. Because we were playing so well, we deserved a reward!! And it did come, with Benzemas goal, God I felt so relieved and happy. I have seen people saying that his goal was not good but? You literally take everything that is being offered to you in a Champions League final! He scored, he gave us a goal, we were 1-0 up, and I was literally screaming from joy, I was shaking so much and I was the proudest person alive. God, I love my team. Then, Liverpools equalizer came. I didnt think anything of it. I wouldnt get rid of my optimism. I was looking at my boys and I knew we would win.

And Oh My God, here we fucking go. 

Minute 61. Gareth comes on. I was so grateful that he at least got to play 30 minutes, I literally only wanted to see him. At that time, considering everything that was happening, I was already emotionally starting to prepare for his departure to another team. I was watching him in those moments, flashbacks through my mind of all the glorious times I got to see him, all of his goals, everything.

And then…

All of a sudden…

62:58

That moment. The moment in which my soul has definitely left my body. The most beautiful moment I have ever lived in watching football. The moment in which I was the proudest person alive. A moment I will never, ever, ever forget, for as long as I get to live. The moment I have literally seen history being made, right before my eyes. The moment in which I literally evaporated, left the Earth, idk how to explain this but I hope you understand me. My idol, that had suffered so much that season, scored a fucking bicycle kick in a FUCKING UCL FINAL. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. The happiest, most full of joy, best, most emotional moment. Ever. No exaggeration.

My perspective on this? Oh well, brace yourselves. If you think everything that I have written so far seems insane, get ready for this.

I was on my bed, watching the game, shaking. I saw the passes, beautiful passes, that ended up with Marcelo controling the ball (incredibly, as he always does, my Brazilian sunshine). I saw him swaying to the side, and then passing a high, aerial ball in the box. Gareth came up to meet it, with… a scissor kick. That he scored. I literally fucking exploded like there is no other word. I jumped off my fucking bed and I ran literally across the house and came back, making the most inhuman noises ever I swear. I came back to my bedroom and I collapsed on the floor and I literally started fucking bawling my eyes out, and even that seems like an understatement. Screaming at the top of my lungs, bawling my eyes out, literally all of it happening on the floor. My grandmother literally came in and she thought something happened to me, but then I just pointed to the screen and she understood lmao. And from that point onward I cannot say anything anymore, because I dont remember anything else but me on the floor, literally. After like 15 minutes I hardly even managed to get back on the bed, and guess what?

82:41

AGAIN. 

A

G

A

I

N

???? I dont know what to say anymore. Like he literally toyed with everyone that night, he didnt care about anything. Again, with a pass from Marcelo, he literally goes from FAR FAR FAR away and he shoots and… scores?? How much do you think my poor fragile self can handle? Like, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU SAY TO THAT?? Except for bawling your eyes out even more, if thats even possible? Its been 7 months and I still dont have words for what happened that night, like 2 goals ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? LIKE DO YOU UNDERSTAND I WAS LITERALLY DEAD LIKE ??? I LOST EVERY SINGLE BIT OF MY SANITY THAT NIGHT. 2 goals, 2 goals in 20 minutes, he was about to get a fucking hattrick. A fucking HATTRICK IN HALF AN HOUR, but Karius unfortunately stopped that shot.

The match ended and… I dont remember anything other than barely seeing the screen, I literally had a blurred vision.

We fucking won it. We DID IT. THE DECIMOTERCERA WAS OURS.

In the moment in which Sergio lifted it I… I dont have words, did I go into another Universe, did I ascend, did my soul leave my body I dont even know but what I do know is that I spent the rest of the night, up until like 6AM, crying my heart out. And this is what I mean by ”I have never cried so much in my entire life”. Like I have never spent a whole night crying.

I went to bed at like 6:30, woke up at like.. 10?? I think you can imagine how I woke up, I literally felt like I was going to die but I spent the rest of the day catching up on everything that happened the entire night.

And then, of course, the celebrations, Cibeles, Bernabeu… of course your sensitive girl bawled her eyes out again lol!

Every day ever since it happened, I have always been thinking about this day. About all of it. No point in counting how many times I rewatched the goals lol! But I think you can imagine haha 💘

So yeah, this is pretty much it DSLKFDKJFKDFJKDFK. The story about my best ever day of watching football I made it unecessarily long (Im so sorry). I think the only conclusion that I can get from this is Hala Madrid Y Gareth Y Nada Mas lol! 💘💘