#i have done like 98% of everything so far

[bookwyrminspiration]

doing a project in class and a classmate asked to group up and we’re friendly so I said yes but the topic I’d already picked is 10000% a personal interest and I don’t. know how to delegate anything to her because we’ve got very unfair distribution of background knowledge but also I don’t want to commandeer everything

[sluttyminghao]

Seventeen x Phone Sex

95 line - 96 line - 97 line - 98+99 line

♡ word count: 880 ♡ genre: smut - 18+ only ♡ a/n: and here's the 97 line version! only one more to go after this! thank u to my dear friends @svthub for helping brainstorm some ideas!

Seokmin: He definitely loves phone sex, that’s for sure but would lean towards being more submissive and wanting to please you rather than the other way around, given his nature when he’s not horny. I think he’d be pretty shy at first (and every other time after that), especially if you haven't done it very often, and would be scared to initiate anything with you, and even if he had a raging erection he would be too scared to say or do anything. However, once you’re both in the mood and things are underway, he wouldn't be able to hold back; he’d be moaning and whining and letting his hand work overtime on his red and angry cock while you’re talking and moaning with him. “Your voice is so pretty, baby, are you close to cumming all over that pretty chest of yours?” He would whine even louder when you humiliate him (I think he has a thing for being humiliated change my mind) and would cum so fast when you call him a slut or a whore. When he’s feeling more dominant, he enjoys edging himself while you moan and whine and he guides you through it. I don’t think he’d go far with humiliation or anything degrading with you, but more so would be into praising you, telling you how well you’re doing for him and would drag the begging out of you ever so slowly, making sure that you cum as hard as possible with your fingers or toys. As soon as you’re both done, he’s immediately helping you over the phone through your orgasm and making sure you clean up and have some water, as well as sending some food to you.

Mingyu: This man is not going to let you go easy at all, especially over the phone. You thought he was an energetic ball of energy when he was with you in bed, but it seems to multiply when he’s on the phone. When he’s this excited, it can only mean he’s going to cum extremely fast OR he will drag it out to the point where you’re both exhausted. He would be wanting to do everything and anything and going a million miles an hour in typical Mingyu fashion, so you eventually have to slow him down with calm words and praise (he loves praise). Whenever you praise him, it immediately goes to his cock and he has to refrain from immediately busting his load all over himself and his thighs, and even his phone. Honestly, it makes your ego grow exponentially just by saying a few words to him, even through the phone. He’s so easy to manipulate, especially when he’s feeling needy and submissive. “Mingyu baby, can you just focus on my voice for a bit? Just take it easy and pretend it’s my hand wrapped around your throbbing cock instead~” And immediately he would be putty in your hand, bending to your every word and hanging on every syllable. He seems like he’d be submissive, with the way he’s whining and pleading to cum, but he’s definitely got an ulterior motive; knowing that when he’s submissive is when you are the most vulnerable and he can play you like a doll. As soon as he thinks you’re at your peak, he shifts from the submissive facade he’s been upholding and switches to dominance, ordering you to cum on his count and then making you overstimulate yourself as well.

Minghao: I feel like Minghao isn't the type to be the biggest fan of phone sex, but if desperate times called for desperate measures, he would play into it for you. Sometimes he’s away for work and the spicy photos just aren't cutting it for either of you, no matter how sexy they are. He’d call and listen to your wants and desires and knows you’re probably already touching yourself given your breathy words and muffled moans, most likely being hidden into your pillow. Minghao is definitely the type to drag your orgasm out, make you work for it and then edge you until you’re sobbing into the phone, and he’d also be the type to want to video chat rather than just audio; he wants to be able to see you, guide you through it and see exactly when you’re about to fall apart so he can edge you some more. “You’re being so good for me, darling, why don’t you edge yourself a little more baby? I know you can do it” His soothing and low voice would only light the fire in your belly a little more, and immediately has you needing to cum. He’s observing you, watching as you slowly fall apart from his simple words and husky voice all the while his cock is twitching with want. He doesn't touch himself however, he’s too focused on you and watching you twitch and whine, especially so when he starts talking to you again. Minghao isn't one for overuse of praise or degradation but uses a good balance of both depending on both of your moods. As in typical Minghao fashion, he’s probably going to make you beg for your orgasm too, whispering his name and how badly you want to cum before falling apart in front of him.

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Do Ghost and Jade's kids don't know about their careers (or in Jade's case, former career)? Cause the comic you made of Andrew seeing Ghost in the middle of the night sorta implies they don't know about their parents' military background.

HMMM HM HM Good catch right there 👀👀

So this is also a part of what I've been thinking inside the Riley family after they have kids.

- I feel like the kids would definitely know about Simon's career as a soldier. BUT, as they are still in their early teens, I'd imagine that Andrew, Gracie, and later Orion know that their dad is a soldier, but that's the extent of their knowledge. They do know about Simon's nickname "Ghost", but they don't know how Simon operates inside the Task Force, they're not aware that their dad is an officer of one of the most elite and dangerous task force in the world. As far as they know, their dad only has edgy hobbies that involves black outfits and skull/skeleton themed. Heck, they even made fun of his preferences in outfits.

- But dear God, they never saw him in a full-on combat gear, in the dark of the night.

- Ghost is an officer, so day by day, he'd left the house with open face, and only wears the mask inside the car. After work day, he'd take off the mask before entering the house. If he's too tired, he'd try to sneak in in the deep of the night without making a sound. He'd sworn to himself that 'Ghost' will never enter his family and children's house/lives. They do not need trouble and his dangerous line of work to enter the one thing he cherishes the most.

- However, once you have kids, you can't hide anything forever. They'll find out by themselves (in this case, Andrew is entering his puberty and needs some midnight munchies). Simon and Lottie knows this, so they already have everything figured out. What would Andrew's reaction be, what would Gracie's reaction be, what would Orion's reaction be. They've discussed what they'd reveal, and what they'd still keep a secret, again, until they're old enough to know. They tread VERY carefully about it.

- About their mother though, that's a whole different story. After their marriage, Jade has strictly commited to be a mother for her kids, and opened a branch of The Garden in Herefordshire. She's an ✨ entrepreneur ✨. She's not that active to be called into deployment as before she had kids. If she's used to be 60% florist and 40% TF141 ally, after she had kids she'd be 98% Mum and Florist, and 2% TF141 Ally. Her kids literally only knows her as a florist, and that's it. Up until their late teens, Andrew, Gracie, and Orion would have no clue nor idea about her past with MI6. She didn't lie, she's just holding the truth until they're big enough to understand.

- In fact, Ghost BEGGED and asked Jade to not be active inside the TF141 or any conflicts anymore, considering Ghost would be deployed a lot (and how he's promoted to Captain and above), he'd want his wife to be with her kids. Jade herself also agreed, but she also told Ghost to not die and do stupid stuff. Even though married and less involved in the TF141 business, her resolve stayed the same. If he's missing, she'd pick up the guns in a heartbeat.

- Now, back to the kids. I'd imagine that because of how eventful each of Simon and Lottie's lives are, it sort of like become a game to the family. Each birthdays of the kids, Simon has established a "3 Question" rule game, where the kids can ask their parents anything about their lives. From Andrew and Orion, it's usually trivial and simple stuffs like "What's the naughtiest things you've ever done" "What's your favorite bla bla bla". HOWEVER, with Gracie, its always "What's your favourite mission?" "What's the worst condition of a dead body you've ever find?" "Who's the most difficult bad man you've ever encountered?" "Where is he now?"

- Ghost and Jade would answer with only two sentences. Looking at each other for approval. Gracie is most definitely Simon's daughter with that line of questioning. BUT, again, with every birthdays, and with their increasing age and they become more mature, they'll reveal everything bit after bit.

- By the time they finally know everything about their parents, they'd be in college years, probably, and Simon would no longer be the Ghost (he might be one of the higher ranked officer at this point), and Lottie would be completely out of the Task Force 141 game, becoming a regular civilian. Still, it'd be a legendary story to tell.

WOOHOO I kinda yapped a bit there, but hope that answer your question!

[mightiermarvel]

Shawn Michael’s Playgirl interview ft a pretty good shot ;)

Transcript under the read more:

…on the road–and I enjoy every minute of it. Being the World Wrestling Federation Champion, traveling around the world and performing for lots and lots of people is everything I ever wanted. But someday, I would like to be married, have kids, and have somewhat of a normal life. I dont know how normal I can be, but maybe I can get pretty close. 

PG: How far down the road is this normal life?

SM: Realistically, four or five years. I’ve always said that as far as wrestling was concerned, I was going to get out of the ring full time by the age of 35. 

PG: Were you the proverbial “98-pound weakling” in high school? How did you end up doing this?

SM: No, I wasn’t. I certainly wasn’t the biggest guy, but I was the biggest on our football team. I saw wrestling for the first time when I was 12 years old–the first time I got to stay up late–and it hit me just like that. I knew right away. From that point on, wrestling never drifted away from my thoughts. I continued to play football until I graduated, but it was always in the back of my mind that I was going to be the WWF Champion–champion of the entire world. 

PG: Does the idea of somebody biting at your heels, the next WWF Champion wanna-be, ever worry you?

SM: You know what? I don’t think so. I’m just confident in my ability. I don’t sweat anybody. Nobody can wrestle longer than I can, nobody can make people yell louder than me for more. And if they can, I just work harder….

PG: Does that translate into the bedroom as well?

SM: Yeah! (laughs) I’m an athlete, for God’s sake. 

PG: Many of your fans are female. What’s the most outrageous thing one has ever done to catch your eye?

SM: That would be lifting up her shirt and exposing herself to myself–and the rest of the people in the building. It was a long time ago. 

PG: Where were you?

SM: I can’t remember the location. I just remember those two very “subtle” things.

PG: How subtle were they?

SM: (Laughs) Not very. 

PG: Were they gifts from Mother Nature or did they have gravitational help?

SM: No, these were from Mother Nature, actually. But either/or–Mother Nature or with help–is fine with me. I’m pretty liberal. 

PG: Do women approach you more these days?

SM: Yes, and I like that. I like someone else breaking the ice. If I mess up from there, it’s my fault. (laughs)

PG: Tell me the last pick-up line that worked on you.

SM: I won’t repeat it, but it was very direct. She just out and out asked me. 

PG: Did she ask you out or ask you for something else?

SM: She asked for the whole kit and caboodle. 

PG: A basic “I want you.”

SM: More direct.

PG: “I want to ‘bleep’ you?”

SM: That’s the one. 

PG: Was it a kind of fill-in-the-blank?

SM: That’s what made it even funnier. It was multiple choice. Which was nice, but….

PG: It sort of took the mystery out of it?

SM: Yeah, not a whole lot of adventure or wondering there. I prefer as [continued on next page]

Text over large Shawn in a towel picture: “At the last pay-per-view event, I pulled everything down and draped the belt across me….My mom didn’t appreciate that too much”

SM:...much mystery as possible. Slow is fine with me. I’m in no hurry. My life’s in too much of a hurry as it is, and I’m way past the romping-in-the-sack-just-for-the-fun-of-it stage. Though I was fairly wild from the time I was 19 to maybe 25, 26. 

PG: Did you sow a lot of wild oats?

SM: Not a lot.

PG: One acre, two acres?

SM: Let’s just say I put enough to put a dent in it. I was never under the impression that it was a contest: that one guy was supposed to score more than the next. I’ve just never been into that. It’s not me, it’s not my family, not the way I was raised.

PG: So what’s the first thing that attracts you to a woman?

SM: There’s a bunch of first things. Hair, eyes, brains. And for some reason, I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but I always go for smart girls. Which of course gets me in more trouble.

PG: If you’re so attracted to it, maybe you like being in trouble.

SM: No, I don’t think so….I think women are just smarter than men in general–especially up here on the East Coast. But women seem to be different all around the world. It’s hard to figure it out. You get to a point where you say to yourself, I think I’ve got a handle on this and then you go somewhere else, and you realize, I don’t have a handle at all. I had one back there, anyway. 

PG: Back to the physical. What kind of hair and eyes?

SM: Brunettes first and foremost. That seems to be the pattern. Eyes…not really a color–it’s just something about them, that there’s something behind them. It’s just one of those things that has to hit me immediately. That’s how everything important has been in my life. If I don’t get swept off my feet right away, I figure it isn’t all that real. 

PG: Being the WWF Champion makes you the best-known and most popular wrestler in the world, doesn’t it?

SM: (Modestly) Well, I’d like to think so. 

PG: How do you keep that from messing with your ego?

SM: I’ve been doing this for over 11 years now, so my ego was effected more than enough in the past. (laughs) I think that I’m old enough now that I can handle it without it consuming too much of my life…I hope. 

PG: But the persona of the Heartbreak Kid, from the costumes to the sexy stage moves, seems to be an attempt to turn women on. Is this conscious on your part?

SM: It really isn’t, and it certainly didn’t start out that way. I’m more conscious of it now because more people have made me aware of it. It began as just Shawn going out in front of the crowd and playing around, having fun, showing off–and having the nerve to do something on-camera, in front of lots of people, that he certainly couldn’t do in a more private setting. 

PG: You don’t often see some regular guy walking down the street wearing Spandex pants with a heart on the crotch and one on the butt. We might think that was a bit strange. 

SM: (Laughs) Probably, yes. The World Wrestling Federation provides a wonderful vehicle for me to do something like that, but it’s amazing it’s the only place I can really do it. I don’t go out and dance in nightclubs. I can’t be that way unless I’m in front of 20,000 people. 

PG: OK, so now we know about your public performances, we’ll get to your private ones in a minute…. Do you truly understand the effect you’re having on the women in the audience?

SM: I thought I did, but it seems to be getting bigger and bigger…more overwhelming. Not just with women, but with our fans in general. It’s getting bigger and bigger every day–which is wonderful. You just don’t realize how many people who you appeal to, or who notice you.

PG: It’s a given that women everywhere love you, but since you’re so much “larger than life” how do they react when they meet you in person?

SM: A couple of years ago I didn’t seem to be as intimidating to people as I am now…that is, without trying. But I think that’s just because of where my career has gone. It just sort of comes along with the territory. I was easier to approach before when I was just Shawn out there having fun. I’d hope that would still be the case, but it seems to happen less and less. 

PG: Are they afraid of the title?

SM: I don’t know if it’s that. I mean, I welcome everything that’s going along with this, but it does seem like it’s one or the other: Either they don’t care–which is also fine–or they’re a little nervous or apprehensive about coming up because they’re worried that I might be too busy to speak with them.

PG: Or maybe that you’ll put them in a headlock….

SM: I’d like to make it clear it’s not a fear of me physically. It’s where I’ve been placed in the media, this business and everywhere else. It’s wonderful, but there is the other side to it.

PG: Are you ever worried that people are going to start liking you for what you are rather than who you are?

SM: I figure a certain amount of that happens in this or any other line of work. You have to just be careful. 

PG: Do you have a good radar?

SM: I like to think that I’m pretty intelligent, or at least when it’s happening I know when it’s happening, and if I let it, it’s [continued on next page]

Mid Bottom page block: GET IN ON THE ACTION! PLAYGIRL Magazine and the World Wrestling Federation are giving one lucky reader four free ringside seats to an upcoming WWF event! 

SEE PAGE 103 FOR ENTRY RULES AND ELIGIBILITY 

[isa-ghost]

holding u at gunpoint asking for some of your characterization on q!fitza for amfmn bc so far you've shown them off so well :]

RAAAAHHHHH god this took forever

Ok so like the qpr polycule thing goin on. Fitpac. Yeah so Pac isn't like *officially* part of it but also is at the same time but is ONLY intimate beyond casual friendship with Fit. He has no special involvement with Phil, Missa, or Etoiles. And even tho it's a 98% platonic polycule, Fit still told Pac abt the polycule being a thing and made sure Pac was consenting abt it bc that's just basic healthy poly etiquette. He also disclosed to Pac that him and Phil have done Things(tm) in the past and Pac was like WHAT bc for some reason he didn't expect it like at all. It was very funny, Fit had a blast giving that fofoca to Phil

They'll do anything for each other. They're the go-to for everything. You'd think Phil's go-to would be Missa and Fit's would be Pac, but Missa is so occupied with reaper things that the rare times he's actually around, Phil just wants to spend stress-free time with him. He feels bad that for a while Missa returning finally would result in an information overload and then overwhelmed Missa screaming. And Fit confides in Pac NOW, but before they started dating it was Phil

Besides, the times they're awake and out n about just kinda work out. Two birds one stone or smth like that. Adventures and fofoca.

Also something something 2B2T something something Antarctic Empire. Birds of a feather. Yeah.

I think the above is best explained as like. They get each other in ways that other people wouldn't. Bc some of the stuff they can relate on is ""Unsavory"" to the average person.

On that note, they are unwaveringly loyal to each other and will take each others secrets to the grave

And yet they both keep their deepest secrets from each other still. But goddd they'd have fantastic long and potentially gritty talks about it.

They're each other's safe spaces to speak a bit more,, morally grey, you could say. I wouldn't call Phil very gray but he's by no means pure and Fit is like 10 steps ahead of him on the spectrum so he Gets it and Phil gets him

Fit is very good at rationalizing things and thinking under pressure. Which Phil needs sometimes. Bc Phil is good at assuming the worst and therefore preparing for it, but he has a habit of getting too caught up in the The Worst Is Definitely Gonna Happen and being a defeatist, so he needs someone outside his head (Fit) to break him out of that loop

Ok I'm obligated to mention the flirting. No one's doing it like these two sorry. The back of the gym has seen and heard some Shit

God omg esp when it's just the two of them, no friends or kids, they're the Worst about each other. It's hilarious but good god they can be rated R at each other

Post Fitpac official they toned it down though and godddd they're so good about each other's boundaries punches the floor aaaaa

Also obligatory mention of Fit being observant as fuck. Phil can't hide shit from him, he knows all his tells. If Phil is lying or something is wrong, Fit can tell

These two mfs are the kids in class that always instantly partner with each other when the teacher is like "ok time to buddy up for this activity." The teacher is the Federation.

Their friendship be like "no kids around? bored? ... wanna go blow shit up? hell yeah."

[supernerdsblog]

Some ideas for Jordan x reader

Maybe Jordan and reader have a little rivalry at uni even tho theyre dating and reader gets a higher grade / passes them in the rankings and Jordan is all pouty about it so reader comforts them. Maybe fluff but it could be a little angsty at the start because Jordan doesn't wanna admit reader may be smarter than them, they're a lil stubborn 🤭

This is such a good idea! And tysm for being my first request <33

(this is going to be before the show takes place, so Luke is still alive)

When you and Jordan were just friends in Freshman year, you both bonded over your obsession with the rankings and doing well in classes. It was always a running joke that you guys were always trying to one up each other in everything you did. When you became Mrs. Harrison's TA, they went and became Brink's. When Jordan scored a 95 on a paper, you would score a 98.

Even with your relationship changing, from best friends to dating, your rivalry was still infamous around campus. You two were always fighting for the number two spot under Luke Riordan. It even went as far as your friends placing bets on who would come out on top at the end of the week. But, in the end, it always made you push each other more so it worked out for the better.

With the week winding down, You and Jordan finally got to spend time with each other, aside from studying or being in class. The rankings were scheduled to come out soon, but you both did not concern yourself with it until the time came around.

Instead, you chose to occupy yourselves with a movie while you laid on Jordan's bed.

When both of your phones did finally chime, Jordan paused the movie you guys were watching together, and you both immediately grab your cellphones. The light illuminating your faces in their dark room.

Luke, of course, was in the number one spot. That was to be expected.

Your eyes shifted down the screen to where your smiling picture and your name were next to the number 2 spot.

Jordan's picture was right under yours. In third.

You sat up from the bed, beaming. "Ohh! Second week in a row, Li. Maybe I really am smarter than you." You shook their shoulder excitedly.

"Yeah. Good job."

Jordan had always done good in the combat aspect, but what you lacked in fighting you made up for in your classes. And this week, it seems like it put you just over the edge to pass them once again.

"I mean if you need help studying, I guess your smart, talented, and hot girlfriend can help." You joked. A wide smile evident on your face.

Jordan scoffs, hops off the bed, and pretends to look for something in the mini fridge across the room.

"Wait, are you actually upset about this?" You question, getting up from the bed as well. You almost laugh in disbelief as you watched them.

They cross their arms in front of them and they roll their eyes. They were definitely upset.

"I was just joking, -"

"I'm fine" they assured, looking the other way.

A smile starts creeping on to your face, realizing what was actually going on. "You're upset that I beat you?"

"No, I'm not." They say a bit more firmly, shaking their head.

The one thing that sucked about this rivalry, was that you both hated to lose. Of course, you guys wouldn't want the rank to go to anyone else, but it still hurt.

You sucked in a breath. Mustering up everything you could to push down your smile. "Ok fine." You answered, trying to match their broodiness. You cross your arms in front of you just like them and look off into the room.

"Fine" they reply back just as coldly.

Finally, Jordan looks at you. Their expression softening. Not a second later, a smile starts to peak out onto their face and they start to chuckle. In turn, you do as well until you're both smiling.

"Nice job" He whispers back, studying your face. He takes a step closer to you, thinning the distance.

You let your arms fall to your side and shrug a little. "Not too bad yourself, Li" You bite the inside of your cheek, still trying to hide your smile.

Jordan's ring covered hands, snake up to your face. Slowly, he looks at you then your lips, and then back at you. Before you know it, he is smashing into your lips, kissing you hungrily. Your hands slip to the back of their neck, softly playing with their hair. This only brings Jordan in closer.

"Y'know you're kind of cute when you pout." You mumbled in between kisses. The words come out breathless and just above a whisper.

"I wasn't pouting." They urge.

"Mhmm" You moan, before you lean back into them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy Valentines Day!

This is my first post so any tips would be appreciated! Also please send more requests!

xoxo, $uperNerd

[d3sertdream3r]

I've been loving trop this season!! I am wondering how the whole SauronxGaladriel thing is going to play out though I'm nervous it won't be very satisfying with everything they've built up and all the marketing hype it's gotten. I'm worried they're baiting shippers to get more people to watch. Thoughts?

Oh boy, I have MANY thoughts!

I am absolutely DEVOURING this season, anon! The first episode in particular really blew me away. As a Saurondriel/Haladriel shipper, I thought all the direct parallels shown in Sauron and Galadriel’s journeys were PERFECT! 

I was worried they were going to retcon Sauron’s genuine feelings of despair and questioning if he should “repent” or not due to the amount of hate and toxicity from the usual suspects on the internet. Instead they really leaned into it, and I loved seeing The Dark Lord having nightmares. It’s a side of him we’ve never seen explored before! And that Annatar reveal… holy moly! Celebrimbor and I were both like: 

Galadriel has been breaking my heart in each episode. Elrond and Gil-Galad need to give my girl a break! Morfydd Clark’s acting is stellar. She is so heartbroken over not recognizing Sauron for who he truly was and even worse… catching feelings for him! She’s really going through it and it hurts, but it’s also brilliant on the writers’ part. 

Everyone else’s acting and stories are great too. Arondir was a favorite of mine last season and continues to be this season. Disa is FANTASTIC and I love her and Durin so much there aren’t any words to describe it. Isildur and Estrid are cute and I’m interested to see how their story plays out. I hardcore ship Elendil and Miriel, and his daughter needs to take a seat before she helps Pharazon destroy their home! I know the story, but MAN was it killing me to see how Eärien is contributing to its downfall in this show (in a good way… I think having her be involved with the opposite side of her father makes for great drama). 

As to the second part of your ask… I have been involved in many online fandoms for about 13 years now, and I gotta say that 98% of the time fans come up with way more interesting storylines than the creators of any show. A lot of the time they just don't deliver. I’ve been burned over and over again, so my bar is pretty low at this point. 

They’ve done a fabulous job with the Saurondriel dynamic so far, and I’ve seen some really interesting fan theories about Galadriel briefly joining Sauron or being taken prisoner by him. As truly fascinating as that would be, I’m not holding my breath. I think it’ll be a rehash of season one’s ending with more violence since they have swords this time around. After that, I’m guessing they’ll focus on Sauron gaslighting, gatekeeping, and girlbossing his way to the throne of hell while Galadriel and company work together to stop him. They’ve hinted at Celeborn a bit, I’m sure we’ll see them reunited at some point. 

I’m sorry if this isn’t very reassuring! I wish I could be more optimistic about Saurondriel in season 3, but I honestly don’t think Tolkien’s estate would go for Galadriel falling to the dark side in any capacity. Sauron taking her prisoner could happen, but I highly doubt it simply because as I said before, fans tend to have better ideas than a lot of creators in my opinion.

I could be completely wrong! I have just learned not to trust creators to handle things the BEST way, but that doesn't mean it won't be handled in a GOOD way. Hopefully that makes sense, lol. I think some people will be satisfied and some people won't, just like every other story. The shippy photoshoots and marketing have been delightful! I can't tell if they're baiting until I see the last episode. I think they were just having fun, but some comments from cast and creators would definitely seem a bit baity if the payoff is underwhelming. We'll see!

I really hope the season goes out with a bang and we all have something to love about it; especially Saurondriel shippers!

[pancake-breakfast]

As a few others have noted, this scene just hits different in the manga versus in the '98 anime. But I wanna talk about it, too, so here we go.

In the manga, the pages preceding this scene feel like some well-meaning townsfolk overstepping their bounds a bit, but in '98, the narrative had already built Vash up as a womanizer by this point, so this scene felt more like the townsfolk playing into that aspect of his reputation than anything else. That reputation does add an element of surprise that he'd bother to reject their advances when he was looking up a young girl's skirt, peeping in windows at a lady's bathtub, and completely entranced by a woman's cleavage in the previous episodes. But it still didn't exactly endear me to him.

I don't remember if he said all that stuff in that center panel at all in '98 (and I'm too tired to look it up right now), but if he did, it ABSOLUTELY didn't stick, drowned out in the sudden rejection he has for a pair of skirts that seem to enthusiastically want him for his body. Which is a real miss for '98, because LOOK AT THE LAYOUT OF THIS PAGE.

Part 1 is a continuation of the previous page, with the sudden revelation that Vash isn't even slightly asleep right now, but instead is listening in on the conversation. All it would take for him to stop them is for him to ask. Instead, he lies there in silence until he's alone.

Part 2 is him reflecting on them leaving, on their words, on all that he's leaving behind and all he's done and things that we just don't know about yet in the manga. In spite of not getting any internal monologue from him, it's clear that there, alone in the dark, he's rejecting the idea that all of this--the women, the party, everything--is something he's worthy of. Clearly, the townsfolk think he deserves it, and I'd guess that's the only reason he bothers to tack that "maybe" on there. The pause before his other statements makes them seem too well thought out.

But then you have Parts 3 and 4. And they are... nothing. Nightow doesn't spread the previous three bits of dialog from Vash over three panels. He doesn't add inserts pulling us closer to Vash or to items in the room, or longer shots of the setting easing the transition into the morning of the next day. Instead, he gives us pitch blackness followed by deliberate emptiness with the faintest of clouds.

That's not a transition. That's a punctuation.

When we leave this scene, the thing we're supposed to remember from it isn't that Vash turned down sex. The thing we're supposed to remember is that Vash felt he didn't deserve everything the townsfolk did for him in that evening, and that he felt this so strongly that he deliberately (and sneakily) taps out early to hide in the darkness of his room all by himself to wait for morning.

And that makes this scene FAR more lonely than '98 having the local wandering lecher suddenly turn down an opportunity to get some.

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog 36 | 11.26.23 ๋࣭⭑

:rises from the dead: I'm.... BAAAAACK!!!!!!

Long time, no talk (kinda) everyone! I hope you've been happy, healthy, and well since we last saw each other and that the wind-down for the year is being kind to you all <3

We have a lot to catch up on, so let's do just that ^^ This is.... so long. I'm really sorry in advance tbh---I thought I hadn't done much because break, but there's quite a bit to show.

It's been a while since a formal update on the routes, so I'll start by telling you all where they officially stand. Before I do, it might be helpful to tell you all how I define percentage completion in my head. Basically, when I finish the draft of a route, I consider it 70% complete. This means I could ship it as is. I wouldn't be happy with the product, but it's playable and makes enough sense---just not the best quality.

When Wudgey finishes their edits, a route is 80%-85% complete, meaning I could ship it as is. I think it'd be pretty good actually and players would be happy. Beyond this point, I am just making fine tuning edits to incorporate more player interaction, polishing the flow of things, etc.

After that, there's basically only Elm and Vi's edits left. When Elm finishes, a route is 95% complete. Again, I think at this point, it's good. Like edits from this point onwards are purely for polishing purpose. After Vi, it's 98% complete. Then the last review comes back to Elm and I for it to be 100% complete. Right now, this is where the routes stand:

Kayn: 98% Complete

Fenir: 95% Complete

Druk: 80% Complete

Etza: 60% Complete (Still working on their draft!)

Do Not ask me about Kuna'a or Aisa LFMASOEIDJ

So most of the routes are actually looking pretty good! They're just getting bounced around to different editors at this point, but the changes made for most of them are basically small. Fenir and Kayn especially could be shipped as is in my eyes if I really wanted to.

Art recently has mostly been focused on commissions. Vui actually is almost done with ALL of the BGs for Alaris!! Isn't that crazy?? In about a year, he was able to create almost 25 BGs with daytime variations!!! He's a phenomenal artist, and I couldn't be happier to be working with him. It's also a bit bittersweet (and alarming??) to know that part of development is already close to ending! q.q

The most exciting art update I have is that we got the GUI assets finished and I've started coding them into the game!! AAAA!! These were the final updated assets I needed, and seeing the fully revamped demo come to life has been so.... Emotional HAHA! It's crazy to see how far Alaris has come from when I was first making it with my little fingies and throwing things together like paper mache. I'm incredibly in love with how all the assets look together, and I couldn't be more grateful for the artists who helped me update the assets!

Updated History Log. Please say you like the dividers between entries---I'm most proud of those

I'm still making my way through coding everything, but here's a couple screen previews so you all can see how things now look in the game!!

First off, is the Dialogue/Choice Screen. You can see that we have a brand new dialogue box (She's Stunning) and Choice Screen! I'm hoping to add some sfx for the choices when you hover over them, and sfx for the new UI in general so there's more user feedback when you click and hover on things. But for now, enjoy this preview of the new dialogue box, choice screen, and the new personality indicators!

Updated Dialogue/Choice Screen: You can't see it as well in GIF format, but the BG also has particles floating around, so there's a tiny bit of animation going on in some of the BGs as well!!

Next, we have the Free Time Screen. I actually posted this on Twitter recently but I don't think I posted it on Tumblr! ISN'T SHE STUNNING... ESPECIALLY WITH THE NEW BGS.... I'm especially happy with the text animations that show up at the bottom when you hover over the different choices! I was inspired by a couple other devs (specifically GUI god, @siyo-koy, and renpy animation master @just-a-carrot) to start incorporating animation style elements into my GUI. And I really like how it adds a little ~something~ to the feel of everything ^^

Updated Free Time Screen: begging someone to say they like the text animation so I feel validated for finangling with it

Finally, for our last preview, we have the Save Screen! While it looks new obviously with the new assets, I also did a lot of backend coding revamping for how it actually functions since my coding experience is a bit better now compared to when I was first fighting for my life figuring out save/load screens. The biggest change for you all is that there are now chapter markers so save slots will tell you what chapter that save file is from! And instead of screenshots, it's now a custom icon inside that shows the chapter card. I think it'll make the save screen look more cohesive now and hopefully more intuitive as well!!

Updated Save Screen: With a sprinkle of updated Chapter Card screen preview

That was long. Are any of us surprised, considering I had two months' worth of devlogs piled inside of me, begging to burst from the seams?

Anyways. Only two miscellaneous updates. One is that all soundtracks have been completed for Alaris! Peter finished the last of them recently, and they're all beautiful!!! For ppl who love piano soundtracks... :holds hand in piano lover solidarity:

Other update is that I finally fixed that godforsaken sprite bug that was associated with the energy vision feature from the demo!!! FINALLY!!! AFTER.... SO LONG. Extremely huge thanks to @robobarbie for taking time out of their day to do that; everyone please say thank you!!!!! OGs know how long that bug was bothering me!!!! Robo also gave me a pretty new rain code, so I'm showing you how both look in the new demo so you can appreciate them with me!!

Last miscellaneous update is more on a.... logistical development level?? Basically, now that I have new GUI assets to code, that means I can get a beta build of the routes currently written out. I was feeling really overwhelmed by that idea because most of this year has been focused on writing and making assets, not really coding. Knowing that I can Code and get Playable Builds out to people was stressful because I have to divvy up my time a bit more.

After an extremely insightful talk with beloved and admired Esh of @steamberrystudio I decided I'm probably going to be shifting how development goes from here on out. Instead of focusing head low on getting as many words written for the remaining routes everyday, I'm going to be making smaller but consistent progress and spend the rest of my time coding so that I can have more of a continuous cycle of production going on (e.g., writing a bit, making playable builds, gathering playtester feedback, etc. instead of doing each stage in blocked, sequential order).

I'm mainly telling you all this because it means writing updates will probably seem slower from this point on, but I think production overall will be more efficient because of it! This is also exciting news for playtesters and/or early access backers/patrons because it means you'll have playable content in the near future for content outside of just the demo :')

have u all heard of wudgeous of herotome. of course u have. they r all i talk about at this point

No market research because I've actually been addicted to BG3 LFMAOLSDJF. Actually, I'm taking some inspiration from it for the personality mechanic but eh.

On a more important note, @herotome demo is coming out December 2nd!!!! PLAY IT WITH ME. Wudgey is my editor, so you might think I'm biased but I'M NOT!!! I WAS A FAN OF HEROTOME BEFORE WUDGEY EVEN WORKED W ME!!! They have an exception eye for detail and player experience, and they are actually one of the devs that inspired me to even get into game development.

I just know the demo is going to blow everyone's socks off. OG Herotome prologue build fans know exactly what I'm talking about. Please mark December 2nd on your calendar---you will not regret it.

This was so unbelievably long, but I hope it's appreciated since there was no real devlog update for a hot minute. As always, Thank you all for your patience and continued support. With the year ending soon, I'm getting wrapped up in my feels in usual Crescence fashion. I am a Cancer so no one is surprised.

Next month will probably be more of an end-of-year devlog rather than the usual format. I know the devlogs of late have been all over the place, but once we get into the new year, it will be back to business as usual! Hope you all have a wonderful end to your year; I'll talk to you soon! <3

[arendaes]

9 Lots of People You Want to Know Better

Tagged by @dmagedgoods and @undyingembers; thank you!

Three ships:

My Throuple, Ariadne/Daeran/Woljif, of course. Honestly they've been taking up about 98% of the shipping space in my brain lately.

Thanks to some spicy fanart posted on Patreon I've been thinking a lot about Alistair from DAO today so naturally I'm thinking about Alistair/Saskia.

Along those lines Howl/Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle, for a lot of reasons.

Last Song:

According to Spotify it was Degenerates by I the Mighty (I just listened to it last night which makes it sad I couldn't remember lol)

Last Movie:

I think it might have been Furiosa? I don't watch many movies and that's the last one I remember at least

Currently Reading:

Almost done with Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir! I've enjoyed it but it's not giving me the same brainworms it has other people. I think it's because I've never really been into necromancy and a book that features it this prominently was just never going to hit me like it does other people. Also Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis. I'm not far into it but already I've learned things (I did not know how many prisons are in California alone) and making me re-evaluate my own beliefs and knowledge of the prison system.

Currently Watching:

Ok, laugh at me if you want but I was in the mood to re-watch my comfort show...which is The Golden Girls 😂

Currently Eating:

Nothing but I am drinking some sparkling water

Currently Craving:

The drive to finish the first chapter of my Fairy Tale AU! 😩

Favourite colour:

Purple!

Favourite flavour:

Cherry!

Current obsession:

Ariadne forever and always! Really looking forward to Fields of Mistria hitting early access here in a few weeks so that could also be my next big one 👀

Last thing I googled:

Duotang. There was a poll asking if I knew what it was. The answer was no, and I was surprised to find out what it was!

Favourite season:

Fall/autumn! Cooler weather, warm drinks, deliciously spiced everything, my birthday...it's just the best time of the year

Skill I’d like to learn:

Drawing! I'd love to do little doodles of my OCs and book and video game characters (and yes, I know the only thing standing in my way is myself)

Best Advice:

Right now, "write the story you want to see". I have no idea if my fairy tale AU will be to anyone's tastes but my own, but I have to try!

No-pressure tags below the cut! (Opt in/out)

@first-talon @miseryscrowned @gutterspeak @fantastic-mr-corvid @mathlann

@amatres @starlightcleric @arrow90-art @silversiren1101 @blighted-elf

@mxanigel @poetikat @outeremissary @valiantvillain @dragonologist-phd

@dujour13 @captastra @spyridonya @yunessa @eurekq

@the-raging-tempest @serenbach86 @jean-dieu @ravencrowley7 @forestdragoncat

[coolbeesbro]

Sinners and Fallen Saints Update!

I was originally planning to have chapter 6 uploaded by last night, but it ended up being much longer than I expected (almost at 5000 words right now) and I'm only about 1/2-2/3 of the way through! I'm hoping to have it done and posted some time this week though! Until then, here's a small excerpt!

Chapter Title: Old Man Yaoi? Niffty No.

Consciousness came to Lucifer slowly; curled up in a space that wasn’t his large and luxurious bed, head resting at an uncomfortable angle on something stiff and solid. Slowley, he blinked his eyes open and let out a large, sleepy yawn. 

This wasn’t his room, and this wasn’t a bed he was sleeping on. The King of Hell let out a miserable groan as he shifted in the armchair he didn’t remember falling asleep in; his fingers gripping a plush red throw blanket as he pulled it further around himself and curled up tighter, face now buried against the back of the chair. It didn’t matter that this was the most uncomfortable place he’d probably ever slept in, he just wanted 5 more minutes. 

Somewhere through the few hours he’d been asleep in Alastor’s strange sitting room, he’d managed to get tangled in his robe; which in turn bunched up his pajama shirt around his chest and armpits. Between the 3 layers of fabric, his body was warm and uncomfortably clammy. Every part of this situation was not ideal; leaving Lucifer to wonder what he was doing with his life. 

Bits and pieces of his conversation with Alastor last night were coming to him; and muddled with the delirium of exhaustion and the vague memory of the dream he had, he was questioning what was and wasn’t said.

Did Alastor tell him he was a vegetarian, and wanted to open up Hell’s first ever fully vegetarian Cat Cafe? There was this cookbook he pulled out of who knows where, full of vegetarian based recipes passed down from his grandfather to his father, then to him? A family tradition full of veggie frittatas and cranberry walnut pancakes?

Wait no, Alastor hated his dad, so the Cat Cafe was definitely a dream. Which was a bit of a relief because Lucifer didn’t want to debate the ethics of feeding cats a vegetarian diet. 

Oh and also Alastor ate people, so that might have been his first que to the authenticity of the idea. Definitely nothing vegetarian about that. 

Lucifer had to consciously stop himself from snickering at the thought that Alastor would be anything but a psychopath. The guy had a hotel resident fully bound to a chair last night for an interrogation. Even going so far as to play light jazz music for some sort of serial killer ambiance. But then again,  Lucifer was also a participant of the incident, so what did that make him?

Damn.

The King of Hell cracked his eyes open once more, training them on the red cretonne upholstery his face was pressed up against. He used the knuckle of his pointer finger to trace over the dips and loops of the gold flowery pattern, the smooth embroidered design feeling ever so slightly different from the rest of the thick fabric. Doing anything and everything but getting up and going to his own room to get ready for the day. 

His ears picked up the sound of a door opening from up above, followed by heeled shoes coming down steps, making Lucifer still his movements. 

“Ok you’ve been out long enough.” Alastor chastised under his breath as he approached the chair the King of Hell was curled up on. The lights in the room flipped on, assaulting his tired eyes with bright warm orange light, “Come on, up up up.” Alastor commanded, clapping his hands loudly.

“Nooo…” Lucifer’s voice was muffled against the back of the seat.

“No whining like a child.” Alastor’s said as the radio on the bookshelf next to him turned on, and Katie Killjoy’s sarcastic voice began to prattle through the crackly speakers:

“—gas station caught fire due to the negligence of a dickhead smoking at the pump. Local crackhead, Morison Morris, says he was there just getting a .98$ coffee at the time of the event.”

“I guess you could say his morning was off to an explosive start!”

“Shut the fuck up Tom—”

Irritably, Lucifer peered over the armrest at the radio and grumbled, “Please stop.” And the radio did just that. Thank you Alastor for the fun new power he held.

“Oh and I bet you think you’re rather cheeky.” Alastor said in a mock-congratulatory tone, “But really, it's 7:30am and Charlie expects us down at 8am sharp for the start of today's activities.”

Lucifer let out a long, tired sigh, “Just 5 more minutes.” He complained, not really registering the words coming out of Alastor’s mouth.

“As flattered as I am that you seem to be so dedicated to staying in my room, you need to get up and go to your own to get ready.”

“Fine fine, I’m up.” He grumbled miserably as he righted himself,  “When did I even fall asleep?” 

“Some time around 4:13am, I believe. Mid sentence you passed out, I was very impressed.” Alastor went on as he watched Lucifer close his eyes and slouch back in the chair, the King of Hell frowning deeply. Alastor walked over to chair Lucifer was still seated miserably in and took the plush red throw blanket off him in one fell swoop, all but pulling Lucifer off the chair and stumbling on his feet, “You now have less than 25 minutes to get to your room, get dressed and be down in the lounge before Charlie starts the day off without you.” He stated as he folded up the blanket and set it on the other seat.

It finally registered in his brain how little time he actually had, Lucifer frantically searched for his slippers— “They’re by the door, now shoo.” Alastor grabbed the shorter man by the shoulders and pushed him in the right direction.

Lucifer jammed his feet into the slippers before swinging open the door to make his leave; and as he dead-sprinted down the hall, he didn’t notice their resident housekeeper by Alastor’s door inspecting the fresh new claw marks carved into the carpet. Niffty, however, noticed him running and completely disheveled in his nightwhere. 

Her interest in the claw marks dragging back to Alastor’s door was now gone, and in its place grew gleeful speculation over what Lucifer was doing spending the night with Alastor. As her large red and yellow eye watched the King of Hell stumble over his slippers, almost face planting in the hallway before catching himself again and continuing his sprint, she let out a devious giggle before running back down the other way and crawling into an open air vent she’d scurried out of originally. Her quickest form of transportation.

[bella-rose29]

Not Your Lover - Chapter 8 (final chapter)

Gregor finally gets some backstory (been a long time coming) although it's actually quite depressing (I'm sorry)

shit goes down in this one (both bad and good)

ok edit: this is the last part of this series (I know 😭), there's a better explanation on the master list if you would like, but thank you to everybody who has liked, commented, reblogged, or even just read and enjoyed <3

Word count: 4.2k

Warnings: swearing, the mother is (you guessed it) still a bitch, mentions of death, mentions of a stillborn, grief, Gregor sees Nik as a son (I cried writing that honestly he's so sweet), the mother gets her ass verbally handed to her, idk what else there is other than it's only been proof-read once

Tag list: @a-candle-maker, @bish-lasagna, @bubybubsters, @el-de-phi, @hauntedenthusiasttragedy, @iambored24601, @itsyoboo-jassy, @karensirkobabes, @kentucky-criedfricken, @little8sun, @mrsklockwood, @mvidaaaa, @nalie-98, @naushtheaspiringauthor, @notoakay, @pietromaximoffsbabe, @shadowwolf202101blog, @simbaaas-stuff

As always, let me know here if you would like to be added to/removed from my Nikolai tag list <3

series master list

Y/n was having a shit day.

She hadn't seen Nik- Nikolai, since he'd told her who he was the day before, and she felt awful about how she'd dealt with it. It was irrational, really, since she knew that he wasn't Davor, but the doubts about what else Nik- Nikolai (Saints, that was still difficult to get her head around) was lying about were creeping in. Her mother's presence in the mansion at the moment was doing absolutely nothing to help.

"-and Davor says that he overheard the two of you the night of the faire, you know, when I found out that the two of you were 'together', and Davor says that he heard you talking about how you were going to pretend to date so that you could use me for your grant! And Davor says tha-"

"Saints, mother! Stop talking about Davor! 'Davor says this' and 'Davor says that', it's exhausting just listening to you!" Y/n was working on the third room, the deadline closing in far too fast for her liking.

Everything would be easier if Nik was helping.

She shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts of him, and went on stubbornly ignoring her mother's incessant rambling, picking up a brush and painting the walls. The entrance hall and first front room were done, but they'd taken longer than she'd expected and now it was a rush to get the third and fourth rooms done in six days. In fairness, she only really had to put the final coat of paint on these walls and finish tidying up and then the second front room was done. It was the final room that was stressing her out, since it needed clearing out, floors replacing, furniture replacing, everything replacing, really, and she'd barely touched it.

Her father had promised to help, which she would be eternally grateful for, but even with somebody lending a hand Y/n had no clue how she would ever get the project done in time.

"You know, I should have expected something like this from you. You're a terrible daughter, do you know that? All I ever wanted was the best for you and you had the audacity to lie to me and take me for granted."

Y/n stopped her work again to stare up in incredulous shock at the woman that called herself her mother. "What? I'm a terrible daughter? You do realise that the only reason that any of this has happened is because of you, right? Because of your failings as a mother?" She stood up, hoping that she looked intimidating.

"How dare you insinuate that-"

"I fucking dare. Get the hell out of my property." Y/m/n wasn't moving, but neither was Y/n, and after a few moments the older woman seemed to realise that she'd lost this fight and left.

~~~

Gregor had smacked Nik for the third time that day, and it was barely lunchtime.

"Focus, boy!"

He felt bad about hitting him on the back of his head, but at the same time Nik hadn't been concentrating and was about to saw his fingers off, so Gregor thought that it was fair.

"Sorry," the younger man muttered, clearly still not with it.

"What's up with you?" Gregor asked, tone softening. "C'mon. If it's gonna stop you working effectively then we'll talk about it." Nik sighed, turning in his seat at the workbench, and for the first time that day Gregor could see the exhaustion in his eyes.

"I told Y/n. She didn't... she didn't take it too well. And Davor and Y/m/n have started going around saying we were faking it-"

"You were though?" Gregor said, confusion lacing his voice.

"Well, yeah, but the point was that nobody was meant to know that. Although I did tell you pretty early on which kind of defeated the point, but you're good at keeping secrets so I felt safe telling you." Gregor's heart swelled at the words and at the knowledge that Nik trusted him enough to share something he wasn't supposed to. It hadn't been long after Nik's first appearance in Taya that Gregor started seeing the man as a son, helping to fill the hole in his heart that had been empty for so long. His wife had died during the birth of their firstborn son, only for the baby to be stillborn. Gregor had been wrecked, despondent and reserved, and eventually he'd moved out to Taya, hoping that the sea air would heal him. Work had kept his mind off of his past, but every now and then he'd be reminded of the two of them and had to close the shop, sitting in his grief all day doing nothing but staring blankly at a wall and periodically crying, his head in his hands. But Nik, bright and shining Nik, had been the son that Gregor never got the chance to meet, and so knowing that Nik felt that he was somebody he could talk to filled the older man with joy.

"Anyway," Nik continued. "I said I'd give her space. It wasn't the best time to tell her, to be honest, because Davor and her- Y/m/n were giving her shit, and then Evalina appeared, and I think it was just a lot to take in all at once." Gregor didn't miss the way that Nik stopped himself from calling Y/m/n 'Y/n's mother', and he found that, despite having known the woman for years, he agreed that she had been too despicable the past few weeks to be called a mother to anybody.

"Well, can you still help out with the mansion? I know she's stressed about that since she's got a whole room left that she hasn't touched and maybe that'll help her figure things out?"

"I don't know. I'd have to go when she's not there, I think. Otherwise I'll feel that I'm pressuring her into an answer or something."

"Well, she normally gets back here around seven bells, and heads out around five in the morning to get the bakery open. Not ideal hours for you to go and help out at the mansion, but I'll let you slack off a bit in the morning if you're tired."

"You sure? Thank you, Gregor. Really. I was going to ask where she's staying, too. She's here then?"

"Yeah. I've got a spare bedroom upstairs. Not the nicest, but at least the heating works," he joked, knowing full well that the hotel heating was complete shit. He'd tried many times to fix it, but somehow (he suspected the owners were Grisha and deliberately breaking it to avoid paying heating bills) it always ended up worse than before. Nik huffed a laugh, a small smile creeping onto his face. "Come on," Gregor said. "Let's get this desk sorted, yeah? If I remember rightly they're coming tomorrow morning to pick this up."

~~~

That night, Nikolai made the short walk to the mansion.

The street lamps dimly lit the way, making the shadows lengthen and concealing people walking along the pavements, but Nikolai wasn't afraid.

Not when he had his demon on high alert for any sign of danger.

Thankfully they made it to the building without incident, although Nikolai could have sworn that Davor was following him, and once they were inside he let his demon out.

"You're helping, alright? You can fuck around a little bit while I get started, but when I need your help, you help, okay?" His demon nodded, stretching out his wings and immediately running off into the bowels of the house. Nikolai sighed, then headed into the back room to make a start on clearing the space.

~~~

"What the fuck?"

Y/n was standing with her father in the mansion just after eleven bells the next day, staring at the empty fourth room.

"Do you... do you know what happened, Dad?"

"Uh... nope. Looks like somebody wants you to get this finished though. Not sure why they wouldn't just... come and help during the day," he frowned, shifting the toolbox he carried. Y/n frowned for a moment too, until she realised who was most likely to do something like this.

"Well," her father declared, striding forwards. "Let's not waste time! We need to get these floorboards up and replaced! Come on!"

The next hour or so was spent doing just that, ripping up floorboards with much more aggression than was needed (both Y/n and her father were taking out their anger on the job), and by the time Y/n had to go back to the bakery they'd stripped the whole room and had made a start on laying the new boards. She was just stepping into her shop when Evalina appeared, and it took a tremendous amount of willpower on Y/n's behalf to not punch the woman in her stupid face right then and there.

"Hi, Y/n. So Nik is single, yeah? Because I would love to see what he's like as a lover."

"Fuck off, Evalina." Y/n walked around the counter, tying on her apron. "Unless you wanna buy something?"

"I'm not hearing anything saying I can't be with him, which is perfect! I'll go find him now!" She ignored Y/n's protests and pranced to the door, but didn't get a chance to open it and rush down the street because a woman had thrown her arm out. Holding the door closed, she raised an eyebrow at Evalina, her other hand resting lightly on one of the axes at her belt.

"You're gonna do no such thing, alright? Go and find some other poor sod to run after, because he is a taken man," the woman threatened, and Evalina paled slightly when an axe was lifted and held up to her throat, nodding so hard Y/n thought her head might go flying. Satisfied, the woman released the door and let Evalina disappear around the corner, watching her go, then turning to face the counter. "You're Y/n L/n, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Who are you?" she asked with a frown. How did this random woman know who she was?

"Tamar Kir-Bataar. You're in contact with Nikolai, correct?"

"No. Well, yes. Well, no. It's complicated," she finished with a sigh.

"But you know where he is? Because I need to find him and the little shit is being evasive. Does he ever open his mail?"

"Um, I don't- I don't know? Wait," Y/n frowned, picking up on something. "How do you know he's Nikolai?"

Now it was Tamar's turn to frown, clearly unsure what the situation was. "Because I used to work with him? Until he ran off into the countryside. Took a good while to track him down, sneaky bastard. He was always good at disappearing."

"Wha- okay." She huffed a sigh, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Well, he's probably at Gregor's, the mechanic. Although he could be taking a lunch break, but I don't know where he'll be if he is. Why do you need to find him?"

"The crown needs him. Urgent business. I'm not obliged to say any more than that, I'm afraid. Thanks for the help," she smiled, heading for the exit. The bell on the door chimed behind her, and Y/n replied to an empty room.

"You're welcome."

~~~

Nikolai dropped his spanner when Tamar walked in and called his name, which was unfortunate because he was on his back, and therefore the tool fell on his face.

"Fuck," he muttered, clutching his nose.

"You alright down there?"

"Yep, all good!" he called, hoping she couldn't hear the pain in his voice as he pushed himself out from under the carriage he was fixing. "Not that it's not lovely to see you, Tamar, but what are you doing here?"

"Zoya needs you. We've been trying to contact you for weeks now, but you haven't replied."

"When you say contact...?"

"Letters, mostly. Have you just not been reading your mail, Nikolai?"

"I haven't been getting mail. And just Nik would be great. People don't know who I am here, stops any assassination attempts. Well, Gregor knows, actually, but I doubt he's going to kill me."

"...Okay. Well, we need you to be Sturmhond for a little while. Shit's going down with the Kerch and they're refusing to loan us money right now despite our crippling debt because they don't like Zoya being on the throne."

"But they were fine with it when I abdicated a month or so ago. Why are they complaining now?" He wiped his hands on a nearby cloth, frowning at Tamar.

"They've got some new people on the council, and apparently they're really anti-Grisha. We need you to convince them otherwise and get those loans." Nikolai sighed, bracing himself against the workbench.

"I can't just uproot my life here, Tamar. I've got... stuff."

"Look, your girlfriend will still be here when you get back. You'll only need to be gone for what, two weeks at most?"

"My girlfr- oh, you mean Y/n."

"Yeah. Who else would I be talking about?"

"I don't know," he sighed, exasperated. Everything was happening far too quickly and all at the same time, and he had no idea what to do about any of it. On top of all of that, he was apparently meant to be receiving mail, none of which had arrived. "Look, I can't leave now. I've got jobs in the garage I need to finish off and the deadline for Y/n's project is in five days. Just give me until after then, okay?"

"We can't wait that long, Niko- Nik. There's trouble in Kerch and you're the only one good enough at getting what you want to fix it."

"There's always trouble in Kerch. Can't you send our good friend Kaz after them? He could threaten them in the middle of the night with murder or something."

"Kaz won't do it unless we pay him an inordinate amount of money," Tamar grumbled, and Nikolai couldn't help but think what a good idea that was.

"Five days, Tamar. And I'll give my most convincing speech yet, how's that?"

"Fine. But I want you going straight there, no detours. We're already behind thanks to your missing mail."

"Yeah, I'll look into that. I have my suspicions on who could have been intercepting my letters."

"I'm going to make the journey back. Five days. And then you make a move," she pointed a finger at him, stern look on her face.

"Five days." Five days to finish the third and fourth rooms. Five days to get Y/n back onside.

No pressure, then.

~~~

That night, Nikolai headed back to the mansion, his demon scurrying across the rooftops out of sight from pedestrians.

He spent most of his time laying the rest of the floorboards, then painted the walls with a first coat in the colour that Y/n had left with a note saying 'Room 4 walls'. His demon was helpful, or at least trying to be, picking up a brush in his mouth and attempting to paint the walls, but when Nikolai saw how haphazardly the job had been done he gave a tut and let the demon wander off and explore the rest of the mansion.

It was strange, how friendly the two of them were now.

Since the events within the Fold things had been different, almost as if now that they were two beings sharing one body they had to learn to get along or go mad instead. Nikolai had previously thought that he'd never be pleased to see the demon, or enjoy its company when it was a reminder of what he had suffered at the hands of the Darkling, but every now and then when it went quiet in his head he grew concerned, or when it chased after its own tail like a dog he laughed, and sometimes, in the depths of the night when nightmares kept Nikolai awake, the demon would curl up around him, offering what comfort it could.

Watching it now, he wondered how they were ever not this close. It was sort of like having a large cat, Nikolai thought. One that didn't shy away from a spot of murder.

The sound of stones being kicked made both man and demon swivel their heads to the entryway of the mansion, and Nikolai paused with the paintbrush mid-air.

"Hey, easy," he whispered to the demon, hoping it would take the hint and stop growling. Footsteps sounded, louder than the stones, and after a moment Y/m/n appeared. Nikolai was surprised to see her, not expecting her to turn up this late at night. He felt his demon hide itself in a corner, the long shadows helping conceal its dark form.

"Hello, Nik."

"Y/m/n," he said tightly, suppressing a grimace. "How can I help you?" He didn't bother disguising the contempt in his tone, no matter how schooled his expression was, and she noticed.

"You can start by going home. This is Y/n's project, not yours."

"Bullshit. She's just the manager of it. Anyone can help."

"Well, she needs to grow up. A child's dream is just that. Perhaps I entertained her fantasies too much when she was younger, but this has gone on long enough and I need to put a stop to it. So, put the paintbrush down, and go to bed. She needs to do this on her own, and when she inevitably fails she'll come home. Back to me."

Nikolai couldn't stop the laugh of disbelief that came out of his mouth, and now he made sure that she could see every emotion on his face. "You really think that she'll go back to you?" When Y/m/n nodded he only scoffed. Maybe she hadn't heard him properly at the market the other day. "You are delusional. You put her down, crushed her, destroyed her, and made her hate you with every fibre of her being, and now you think that she'll forget every comment, every moment where you made her feel like she wasn't a good enough daughter, and act as though nothing happened? No, I'm talking," he said when she tried to interrupt, his tone hardening. "You have ripped your family apart, and there is no amount of grovelling that you can do to get it back. You tore our relationship, too. Yes, it was fake to start with, but our feelings are real. So real that it fucking hurts to know that she has a mother like you, because you don't deserve her. I don't deserve her, but at least I know that she's the best I'll ever do and that I need to worship her like the goddess she is. You don't recognise that you've done anything wrong. And if you ever talk about her like that again, I will make good on my words from the other day. I will find you, and I will ruin you. Because she is the love of my life, and if she'll have me, my future wife. There's nobody but her for me." He paused, chest heaving from the realisation of what he'd just admitted. "We're done here. You can go." Y/m/n looked surprised at the dismissal, but the authority that had crept into Nikolai's voice made her scurry off into the night, her metaphorical tail between her legs.

The demon slunk back into the light, nuzzling up to Nikolai's hand in what felt like pride and comfort, and he was so preoccupied with giving it chin scratches he didn't notice the second figure that had been lingering outside the mansion.

~~~

"Nik? You here?"

"He's out," a voice replied, and Y/n deflated slightly when she recognised it as Gregor. "Went to get lunch. He should be back in about-" he checked his watch, then said "ten minutes. Do you wanna wait?"

"Uh... yeah, sure. Thanks, Gregor." She perched on a chair in the waiting area, anticipation making her buzz with energy. She couldn't sit still, leg bouncing and gaze darting around the room, and every second that passed felt agonisingly slow.

After seven minutes (and thirty-four seconds, although she definitely hadn't been counting) Nik walked in, and he froze with his eyes wide when he saw Y/n waiting in the shop. She stood up quickly, opening and closing her mouth as she tried to start the speech she'd been planning all morning. Gregor walked back out into the main shop after disappearing into the back rooms to fetch supplies, and upon noticing the two of them stood staring at each other, he excused himself, offering up his office as a quieter space for them to talk. They accepted, clumsily thanking him at the same time and walking hesitantly over.

Nik closed the door behind them, and despite the large room Y/n felt cramped, the air heavy with the words she couldn't find the strength to say just yet.

"How have you been?" he asked, his voice quiet. He wasn't looking at her, and she was stubbornly refusing to look at him, but she could picture his exact expression.

"I heard you last night." She winced, not meaning to start there. He didn't say anything, and after a few moments of no sound but the clock in the office loudly ticking she braced herself and glanced up. "Nik? I didn't mean to say it like that. I just- the first night, when I came in in the morning and the room was clear, I assumed it was you, so I came over the next night to make sure, and also to talk to you, I guess. But then my mum was there and I was about to turn around and leave, but then you started talking to her and saying all those things and-" she broke off when he met her gaze, taking a breath.

"How... how much did you hear?" His voice was hoarse, like he was trying to hold back his emotions.

"From around when you told her she was delusional." She bit her lip, nerves taking over the small wave of confidence she'd just had.

"Right." Nik cleared his throat, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. "And... do- what-"

"I love you, Nik. And I wanna try being with you, for real. I can't promise that I won't be wary, and I can't promise that I won't doubt you at times, but I can promise that that isn't your fault, it's Davor's. And I can promise that should you ever propose, I'll say yes." He took a shuddering breath, a shaky smile forming on his face as he took a step towards her. Y/n wasn't sure who moved after that, but somehow they ended up meeting in the middle, arms wrapped around each other as he held her face and kissed her like he'd never let her go again. They parted after a while, taking heaving breaths and resting their foreheads against each other. Nik didn't move his hands from her cheeks, and Y/n slid hers up to cover them where they sat, linking their fingers the best she could.

"I love you," he whispered, pressing a lingering kiss to her lips. "I love you."

"I love you too. Just no more lies, yeah? I'm not sure I can handle that."

"Got it. No more lies." He went quiet for a moment and then said: "Is now a really bad time to tell you that I need to leave for two weeks?" Y/n pulled back so that she could search his eyes, huffing a laugh when she saw how concerned he was.

"I think it's a great time, actually. Does this have anything to do with that woman? What was her name... Tamar?"

"Yes. Apparently I'm the only one who can talk a nation into being cooperative. I've managed to make it so that I don't have to leave until after the deadline, though, so I can keep helping out."

"You didn't have to do that, Nik. Really."

"What, and leave you wondering where I'd gone? No thank you. You'd most likely murder me when I got back."

"I would never!" she exclaimed, laughing when he gave her a look that said he knew she was lying.

"Oh, you so would, darling." She'd forgotten how sweet the name sounded, sending her heart into a flutter.

"Hm, maybe," she murmured into his lips, moving her hands to wrap around his neck and hold him in place (not that he needed much encouragement). They only broke apart because Gregor coughed very loudly in the doorway, an unimpressed look covering up the smile he was attempting to hide.

"If the two of you could refrain from using my office as a room to fuck in that would be brilliant." Y/n snorted, and Nik nodded, both of them flushing at the thought. "Great. Nik, back to work. Y/n, I'll see you at dinner."

He swung the door shut behind him, leaving Nik and Y/n holding back laughter in the office.

[needle-noggins]

Sav's Author Highlight: WateredMyCrops

For the entire week of @trigunfanfic appreciation week, I’m going to highlight my favorite authors and friends whose writing I adore and why. Now I get to scream about WateredMyCrops, or @what-immortal-hand-or-eye.

Mothafuckin. Peregrine. YOU. Shakes you like a mischievous cat.

Pere's fics are wonderful. The proof is in the pudding, as Pere writes the insanely popular Write Your Ticket series as their main longfic story. The first fic in the series, Figure Me Out, is one of the most popular Vashwood fics out there. Period, end of sentence. It blows my mind that the fic is consistently on every single Vashwood fic rec list I've ever seen, but it's well-deserved! It's tough to write emotional tenderness and depth with our boys' emotionally-phobic Trimax characterizations (shaking your goddamned hand, Pere), but they do it wonderfully. If you somehow have made it this far in Trigun fanfic and you haven't heard of this fic series yet, let me tell you: canon-divergent Trimax where Wolfwood lives and Polyguns happens and it rocks. Their Wolfwood POV is absolutely gut-wrenching and the way he thinks about his training and internalizes everything he's been through is just so very canon to me. This is also a wonderful Vash, in all his planty weirdness and just... very very real ADHD. God he's so relatable to me it hurts. And If you like Lenipez's Becoming Eden series, this Vash was inspired by that one! Also, I just. AUGH about the final fic in the series, Raise Your Voice. Polyguns time. Handled so well. I'm honored that they told me their Meryl was inspired by mine, but then went and wrote a chapter about her and Vash specifically that absolutely wrecked my shit. I'll get you back for this someday, mark my words.

Now, because of that fic series, I will often talk about how I need to get the crazy juice out like Vash when I get the ADHD zoomies.

Peregrine's world building is also wonderful, with side OCs that make the world feel really lived-in and highlight how humanity carries on in this tough desert world. Just like Nightow showing us snippets of people's lives in Trimax, and 98's bits of pieces of worldbuilding weaved into the story there. They have a few side fics with OCs that are very fun.

Aside from all this, Pere also writes excellent one shots, both silly and painful.

Their Trigun Body Horror Week oneshots are all written from the POV of dependent plants, and ooaughghgugh. Fuck. I thought about the line "You drown in the desert" the other day and I physically recoiled. That's when you know horror is done well.

Also, as far as dead doves go, Stella Maris et Regina Celorum is... oof. So good. Big warning label: this is a fic from the POV of the plant who birthed adult Knives in Trimax.

On the flip side, if you want sillies and uh, a Samuel L Jackson cameo, may I recommend Fifteen Minutes, Give or Take? Or how about a cute sick fic, Needle-Noggin's Noodle Soup? Perhaps I can interest you in a polyguns drag show with Revenge is a Dish Best Served? There's also Erinyes, if you want Mad Max-flavored battlebabe yuri (it's me, I want battlebabe yuri).

Anyway. Read WateredMyCrops' fics if you haven't yet. Necessary experience.

[yuhi-san]

So for the last day of @tristampparty have just some fun fact about trigun, escpecially july but lets get them done in order.

Despite being very, very obsessed with anime and manga and being quite active in german forums at the time trigun 98 first aired and was popular here… I was barely aware it existed.

I vaguely recall two people from a rpg trying to get me into trigon but they showed me the silly opening, vash skedaddling around like a lizard and him not having a bullet in the first episode. So it didn’t seem like something for my edgy teenage taste (oh sweet summer child I was.)

Trigon stampede didn’t show up on my radar at all either until I was traveling in japan in late july. I have no idea what even caused it but I went through the wiki, snooping for spoilers like any normal person. Which, sins the wiki contains stuff from trimax, 98 and tristamp it was. Uhm yea.

So anyway what I knew after was:

Vash and knives were species plant (which was so like ???? because I was thinking of trees without any context)

Also what the fuck is millions knives, how is that a name, this is almost as bad as the very manly male priest named ‘frau’

I am not going to entertine the section about a group that calls themself the freaking gung-ho guns, is this a joke

There is superhuman stuff going on with vash and also knives who is his twin.

Apparently he blew a hole in a moon??

He has a bounty on his head.. because he destroyed a city I think.

There are the two girls milly and meryl

Wolfwood dies (I vaguely remember seeing his death in a top then tragic anime deaths from watch mojo, I think)

when I came home from japan I just binge-watched it before going back to work.

So I went into stampede with very little context, but still some. I guess a lot of easteregs and hints went past me at first but that meant I was also unbiased (*cough*Roberto*cough* Milly *cough* new design *cough*)

I was delighted to hear johnny young bosch but a little disappointed we didn’t get any robin-esque gremlin cackle.

Was just a little surprised that wolfwood lived but I did eventually catch on that it was sort of an alternate prequel so to speak.

But then there is lost july.

See, I was vaguely aware vash destroyed I city. Sort of. But I don’t think I really took notice of july when skimming the wiki.

So the finale comes. Everything goes horribly. Roberto dies. At least meryl and wolfwood live. What knives does to vash is terrible. The fight isn’t looking too good for vash. The way knives kills the officers that attack vash.

and like vash was probably expecting it to be a suicide stunt to get the cube so far up in the air and detonate/fire (?) it. And in such a tragic way, it kills knives too (or at least that’s what it looks like to an unsuspecting audience and DEFINITELY to vash).

Everything is horrible but at least he managed to save the city.

Except it explodes anyway.

I was like WHAT!? WHAT!?

I’m telling you guys, I was shocked. I did not see that coming. In the slightest. I think I was still reeling from it by the credits.

Somehow, despite all the spoilers I’ve seen and read (also the couch…) I somehow managed to not expect lost july and was so blindsided by it

Edit: I posted this like three minutes ago but it just hit me what triggered me getting into trigun!! I’m pretty sure I never had trigon posts on my dash but somehow I had a post on it suddenly that was like this:

A screenshot of wolfwood saying to vash: don’t call me that! I’m Nicholas the punisher!

Then a short text about how he was trying to make himself and others believe that this was all he was or something along these lines and then the screenshot of the title drop “Wolfwood”

And then something really clever about how this was set up, as if right after wolfwood insisting he was just the punisher, the title drop immediately tells is otherwise. Like, no, no matter what you tell others and yourself, you are still wolfwood.

Actually if anyone has an idea what post that was hit me up.

[gamebunny-advance]

Kun3h0 Accessories DLC + Patch Notes v.1.0.1

Added:

GAB accessory

Karrot-98 accessory

Changed:

Updated top.

Fixed hair bug. (Hair would easily slip off model.)

Minor improvements.

(More pics and notes under the cut.)

So I finally finished up Kun3h0's accessories and fixed up her top.

So, we've got her GAB and her drill, the Karrot-98.

GAB started out as this little dino thing that I just cut up and sculpted onto.

The original plan was to sculpt onto the original arms after I cut off the wings, but they kept bumping into the head, so I opted to completely resculpt them.

Now they can still turn their head, but that's the only point of articulation. I really should have sanded it more, you can really see the texture still in the clay, but such as it is.

The collar isn't the most elegant thing in the world, but at least it's there~ It's also disappointing that I couldn't get the edges of her screen completely straight and even, but it is what it is.

Overall, I think it's a decent recreation of the original design, even if the purples aren't quite right.

I should take a pic of them next to my other GAB recreations so y'all can really see the difference in scale. I believe this is the smallest GAB I've made so far, and also the only one that has the big heart-shaped tail~

Next is the Karrot-98, Kun3h0's magical drill. I don't have any "before" pictures, but it's made from another accessory that came with the doll, a little clay, and a piping tip that I had lying around + extras.

I don't have a set design for the Karrot yet, so I just kinda painted it with colors I already mixed. When Kun3h0's holding it, it does kinda get lost in the pinks of her outfit, but by itself I think it looks fine. If I come up with a better color scheme for it, then maybe I'll repaint it.

Next, I completely re-did her top. This time, I doused all the fabric in fray-check first to keep it from pulling apart while I was sewing it together, and I completely redid the sleeves. Originally, I had painted the arm guards onto the sleeves because I didn't think of any other way to do it. This time I tried making them with craft foam to better replicate that they're supposed to be two different materials. I'd say it was mostly successful.

Since it's kind of a pain to slip the sleeve into the guards, I don't have any pics of the top without them on, but the sleeves are more form fitting, so the top looks more like a proper tracksuit without the guards on. It's a slightly better look than the original IMO, but it's still not perfect: the guards are basically like a Miku sleeve, so you can still see into them even though the only opening is supposed to be through the cuff (which are barely visible in this pic, but they can stick out for a more accurate look.)

I would show the new top next to the old one, but I kinda destroyed the old one trying to test ideas for this new one XP (in fact, the collar IS from the old one, I just ripped it off and reapplied it to this one).

Lastly, I fixed her wig a little bit.

I don't have pics of it, but I just stuck some velcro to her scalp and the inside of the wig, so now it should stop slipping off while still being removable.

I'm just against completely gluing it down because I still have a lot of yarn left from this project, so I would eventually like to make her some alternate hairstyle wigs just to use up the yarn.

Now I feel pretty confident in saying that she's actually "done." There are a few places that I could touch up with paint, but as for "making" anything else for this doll, I did everything I really wanted to do.

Admittedly, Kun3h0 is one of my most self-indulgent designs (as though everything I make isn't in some way self-indulgent), so to have a physical object which embodies so much of what I like, truly satisfies me. We'll see if I still feel that way about her a week from now, but at the moment, she is the culmination of almost every creative skill I have, and I'm very pleased with the results of that effort, more so than possibly anything else I've ever made~ <3

I may post more pics of her when I can actually dedicate some time to making a proper scene and/or backdrop. There's a lot of little details that I like that I haven't really taken pics of. I dunno if I have the courage to do it, but it'd be cool to take some pics in an actual arcade with her~

[bratshaws]

through the hourglass 110. brb x oc

a/n: good god we got to 110 chapters.......what the fuck am i doing.....and yet WE ARE NOT DONE HAH * laughs nervously *

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: none. pure fluff

goodness gracious (pls read this one to know more what this fic is about!!)

chapter

1/

50/51/52/53/54/55/56/57/58/59/60/61/62/63/64/65/66/67/68/69/70/71/72/73/74/75/76/77/78/79/80/81/82/83/84/85/86/87/88

/89/90/91/92/93/94/95/96/97/98/99/100/101/102/103/104/105

/106/107/108/109

(pls let me know if you want to be added to the taglist! )

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-

“I can’t believe we’re having cherry pie at midnight.” Beatrice says, her legs resting on top of his thighs as the two sit on the couch, “And watching Peaky Blinders.” the gunshot that echoed from the tv didn’t even phase them, “And you got me flowers.”

“It’s been a while since I got you some.” he smirks, chewing his forkful as he rubs her calf, “How’s it though? Good?”

Beatrice stares at him as if he asked the dumbest question ever, “Good?You know, when you told me you could bake I thought ‘wow,he’s husband material alright.’.” she finishes her sentence with a giggle, moving her calf back and forth on his hold because she was so relaxed.

“And I am,aren’t I?”

“Of course you are.” she pokes his side with her foot, squeaking when he just grabs her ankle and traps her there, “You are the best husband that ever existed.”

Rooster’s cheeks flushed a soft red and he scratched the bridge of his nose sheepishly, avoiding her eyes for a second, “Anyway,” he says as he clears his throat, ‘How was work? Did Evelyn stay long?”

‘Honestly,” she gestures with her fork, looking at the ceiling, “It was so crazy, like, the amount of people,Roos. It’s like it tripled in a matter of months! It really was wild because me,Shells and Jessie had to switch spots every now and again while Penny stayed behind the counter! But it was really fun…oh! And Ev stayed for about…half an hour? Maybe, she didn’t plan on staying long to be honest, she just wanted to see everyone because she missed us…and to tell Jake she was fine, he kept messaging her.”

“Honestly that’s how I felt when I was away.” he murmured, rubbing her calf again, “I worried so much,gorgeous.”

Beatrice’s eyes softened as she looked at him, placing the empty plate on the coffee table - far enough from Jolene so she wouldn’t snatch a bite - and pushing herself to her knees. He already knew what was going after, so he set his plate aside as well and leaned back so she could sit on his lap, his sigh of relief once she does makes her smile, “You like me sitting on your lap?”

“Or on my face.” she gasps in shock, cheeks turning red, “Both are great for me.”

“Rooster.”

“Bea.”

They stare at each other for a few seconds, eventually breaking into quiet laughter before their foreheads met, “...I know you worry about me.” she whispered, “And that you were even more worried because you were far away from me.” her hands gently cup his cheeks and brush her thumbs over his cheekbones, “I admit I was really nervous, I really was…but at least you came back soon and saw Nikki’s birth.”

His smile widens, “I did. It was the most magical thing ever.” he pauses “And the most terrifying one, seeing you passed out…was fucking scary, but at least everything went well.”

“And you were with me as Nikki grew into a healthy six months old baby.” she says, “...she’s six months old,Roos. Can you believe it? She’ll be one year old next year. Like…in a matter of months!”

“And I’ll be thirty nine.” he frowns a bit, “...Jesus.”

“You look great for a thirty nine years old man.” she counters, gently brushing her fingers on his temples, “You still look handsome as the first time I saw you…and you’ll get even better as you get older.” he huffs out a disbelieved laugh, but Beatrice is serious, “I swear, Roos you are so handsome. And you look at least in your early thirties.”

“Watch until I get my first gray hairs.”

‘You’ll be a silver fox.” she grins when he laughs, unabashedly and loud, his hands caressing her hips and down her thighs, “You know that. You know you’ll be absolutely handsome when you get older.”

Bradley’s smile softened because his wife was so incredibly sweet without even trying to. He leans up to meet her lips in a lazy kiss, one that was sweet and full of promise at the same time, “Thank you,gorgeous.” he smirks, “You’ll look even better too.”

Beatrice giggles, nuzzling his neck and letting him hug her waist, both of them going quiet after a while, the silence only breaking because of the gentle sound of rain coming from the outside. Beatrice loved this serenity and calmness whenever they were together, it was one of her favorite moments: just enjoying each other, with or without Nikki present, was amazing.

Whenever Nicole was around, their daughter liked to be almost sandwiched between them, gurgling giggles and wriggling against them, loving the attention from both of her parents. “...you know,Evelyn will be three months pregnant.” she muttered, “She might do a baby shower.”

Rooster blinked in surprise, “Evelyn? A baby shower? Really?”

“I know I couldn’t believe myself.” she laughs, “But it has something to do with her family coming over, especially both of her grandmas. She said it’ll be fun…she hopes.” Beatrice drops her head on his shoulder as his hand moves up and down her spine, following the line that went up to her neck then back down to her tailbone with the tips of his finger, “We didn’t do one for Nicole,did we?”

He arches his eyebrows with his eyes still on the tv, “We didn’t have to, people just gave us things without us even asking.”

“True.” she turns to watch the tv as well, seeing Tommy Shelby scream at someone who she couldn’t identify, “Would you want something like that?”

“Hm?”

“For our future kids? Like…a baby shower?” Beatrice’s question was hesitant, so much that Rooster tilted his head to look at her, arching his brow, “Well…we talked about having more.” and she felt stupid for thinking he’d be upset, or he’d tell her to ‘not think about that now’

It was Rooster for god’s sake.

“Do you want to? I mean,” he laughs softly, scratching his jaw, ‘Considering how everything went with Nicole, do we even need to?” 

“Well,good point.” she laughs, dropping her head on his chest as thunder rumbled above them, the rain gaining more force outside, “Maybe not,huh?”

“Think about it,” he begins while still rubbing her back, “We can use some of Nicole’s old clothes to the new kids.” he shrugs, “Recycling, reusing, I mean most of her clothes are gender neutral too, we don’t have to worry about that.”

Beatrice’s smile widened as she looked at his chest, her body feeling so light because of his words. Rooster was an incredible partner, almost unreal sometimes, and she felt he was feeling that more and more as time went by. Maybe he stopped blaming himself so much - finally- maybe he noticed he deserves to have the good things in his life without fearing the worst.

“I like that.” she murmurs, smelling his cologne as she buries her face into his shirt, “I really like that.”

“Are you sleepy?”

Was she? The yawn she tried to hold back was enough of an answer, making her laughter appear distorted when she managed to giggle at him, “A little.” she whispers, “I’m full and happy and warm…and I don’t really want to move.”

“Wanna sleep on the couch?” he suggests and she has to look at him to see if he was serious, “It could fit both of us. Back pain be damned.” Beatrice laughs, still holding onto him only to prop her chin onto his pectorals.

“Hmmm…tempting,but I do like our bed.” she says, “And I want to take a shower before we go…and,” another yawn and a shake of her head, “And I’m getting too tired to form sentences,Roos.”

“Well,” he turns on the tv, “You know what that means,” she hears him placing the plate on top of the other, “I gotta carry you upstairs.”

‘You don’t have to-!” she squeaked because of course he’d just ignore her and pick her up like she weighed less than Nicole. Beatrice laughs, dropping her face on his neck as he walks up the stairs with Jojo following them.

“I’m sorry,” he grins, “Did you say something?” and he adjusts her body in his grasp by bouncing her up, cupping her ass cheeks perfectly as he walks into their bedroom, only setting her down after kissing her forehead and humming against her skin, ‘Because I couldn’t hear it.”

Beatrice smiles, meeting his lips in a sweet kiss, breaking away with a gentle smack with her eyes soft and sleepy, “I didn’t say anything.” she grins, kissing the three scars on his chin before she steps away from him, “I’m going to take a quick shower, okay? Won’t take too long.” she’s already kicking off her shoes and unbuttoning her pants, walking her sock covered feet to the bathroom and disappearing from his view.

Rooster just smiles hearing her soft yawn coming from the bathroom, “I’ll clean everything downstairs.” he says, “Won’t take too long either.”

Beatrice let out a positive hum, probably because she was brushing her teeth and he took that as his cue to leave. He pet Jolene in the hallway, whistling so she’d follow him back downstairs just to keep him some company. 

He gathered the plates and the pie - after eating another part of the crust and closing his eyes because good God he was so good at this - placing the now room temperature dessert inside the fridge, closing the door with his elbow and licking his fingers clean, ‘I’m a great baker.” he turns to Jolene who’s now sitting patiently next to him as he approaches the sink, “I might bake something for you guys, you know? It’d be pretty good, something safe for dogs.”

The pittie whines in her throat, tapping her paws excitedly on the tiled floor “You’d like that,huh?” he asks while washing the plates and then putting them in the cabinets once they were dry. He pauses for a second, his hand resting on the lower side of the cabinet as he notices how domestic their life was.

He remembers when he was younger, just starting in the Navy, how some of his friends couldn’t imagine domesticity. A partner? Yes, but some - if not most - dreaded the idea of domesticity because it sounded so boring. Rooster didn’t hate it, in fact he wanted domesticity but couldn’t imagine himself getting it so soon in his life.

Most of his days were spent alone but he imagined what it’d be like…what it’d be like to have someone to come home to. He didn’t have anyone, so in reality the idea of coming back to his small apartment back then was almost dreadful, but what could he do? So now, these little things - baking for his wife, washing dishes, spending time with Nicole - were so important to him.

As important as his job was if he was honest.

This downtime that some officers didn’t seem to like, not all of them thankfully, but some of them. Amazingly the same ones who always complained about their wives and how they couldn’t wait to be deployed again.

Shit people they were.

“Hey.” he looks up when he hears her voice, her hair just a bit damp because of the steam and the long shirt - another one that belonged to him, this one simply had SIERRA NEVADA on it - that touched her thighs and hugged on her hips, feet bare, “I was going to help you clean up.”

He smiles, dropping his head a bit, “Ah,gorgeous, you don’t have to.” he says, “I thought you were going to wait for me in bed.”

Beatrice hummed, the soft ‘tap tap’ of her soles hitting the cold tiles only signaled she was approaching him, eventually standing on his side and hugging his muddle. Her ear was right on top of his heart and his arm wrapped around her shoulders, “Not the same without you.” 

He clenched his eyes with a pained smile because she kept being too cute for his own good. He closes the cabinet with a flick of his hand, dropping little kisses to her scalp as they stand in front of the sink, “Not the same,huh?” she shakes her head against his chest, “Gotta admit it’s very similar to how I feel when I’m gone.”

Her eyes blinked open and her head tilted upwards, propping her chin on his chest, trying her best to stay awake, “You miss me a lot.” she says as if she just found out he had a crush on her, her sleepy state made her giggle like a schoolgirl, “You do~”

“I do.” he smirks,”Now come on, do you want me to carry you up the stairs?”

“Yesss…” he laughs at her response, “Can you carry me bridal style?”

Bradley answered by scooping her up with ease, kissing her cheek, “Can I?” he grins, “Just turn the lights off for me,gorgeous. My hands are busy.” he carries her to the light switch so she could click on it, leaving them both in the dark, the only light source coming from the lights outside and their bedroom upstairs.

Beatrice snuggles close to him, her legs moving happily as he carries her up to their bedroom once more, this time gently setting her on the bed. His laugh when she immediately burrows herself under the covers, leaving only the upper part of her head and her hair out was adorable, “I’m a mole.” he hears her say, watching her face disappear under the covers, “I live in the darkness.”

His smile turns fond, “Yep, yep you do.” she peeks from under the covers at him, then pulls half of the blanket they kept on the edge up to her shoulder, “Baby, are you really that cold?”

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

“I could be warm but my husband is taking his sweet time to get in here.”

“Ah, my apologies ma’am.” he throws his hands up in defense, “I’ll just change and then I’ll be right there with you.”

Thankfully all he had to do was remove his shirt and adjust his sweatpants after brushing his teeth, nothing more. He left the bathroom to see Beatrice’s eyes following him, more specifically the way his hips moved - and in turn the elastic got a liiitle bit lower every time, exposing his Adonis lines and the happy trail that was darker than his hair - slowly climbing into the bed, under the covers and opening his arms, “C’mere.’ she just scoots over, wrapping herself around him like a spider monkey.

He smiles when her body relaxes and her cheek is pressed to his chest, “Comfortable?”

“Yes. Are you?”

“Always.”

They stay quiet for a few seconds and Rooster knows she’s about to ask something because of how he feels her wriggling a bit, “What’s happening,gorgeous?”

She moves a bit against him, then tilts her head upwards, licking her lips, “...nothing. I just was thinking about you.’ she smiles, pressing her cheek on his bicep, “And how incredible you are and how sweet too, and how much of a great father you are as well.”

Rooster just looked down at her, a gentle curl of his lips as she spoke, so he didn’t stop her, “...you are doing great,Roos.” she says, “You are doing incredibly great.”

‘So are you,gorgeous.”

“Hey,come on,” she playfully shoves his shoulder, gently, “I’m complimenting you right now.”

“Oh so I can’t compliment right back?”

“Nope.” she pops the ‘p’ with a giggle, a giggle that only intensified when he moved his head closer and pressed their noses together. “...I’m just really happy.” she whispers, her minty fresh breath hitting his mouth, “That I have you and Nikki and the dogs…and the house. And that I’m getting better little by little and that you are getting better as well.”

“I try.”

“You do, and it shows.” she says, rubbing his cheek, “You are incredible,Roos.”

He could lie and say he didn’t want nor care about compliments, but he did. And he loved hearing them, especially from Beatrice. He chose to just smile back, then kiss the tip of her nose instead of throwing it under the rug with a compliment towards her, “Thank you,gorgeous.” he says, smiling even more when she snuggled closer to him, “Anyway,what are the plans for tomorrow?”

“Besides the usual?” she asks, hugging his torso, “Getting the christmas things out, setting everything up before we go to Marcus this Saturday.”

“You think we’ll be able to do it?”

“Absolutely.” she smiles, “We can be pretty fast.” Beatrice’s hand is still touching his face, her eyes soft and sleepy, “I’m glad you are here…for Christmas.”

‘So am I.”

“...we’ll make it very special,Roos.’ she smiles, “I promise, the holidays will be the most amazing ones you’ll ever have.”

He believes her.