#i have read both of them st least 5 times.

[gayandangery]

Between You, Me, and the Fence Post by @taelonsamada and Secrest Between Friends by @romirola have completely rewritten my brain chemistry and I think about those two fics CONSTANTLY. highly recommend everyone read them rn!!

reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something

[dark-moonlust]

Getting Pounded by Nagas PART 5: Βabies

Pairing: Two nagas x f!human reader

Summary: it has been two months since your precious eggs hatched. You have a blissful life with your mates and babies. Your nagas are the best daddies in every way. 😉

Warnings: minors don't interact, 18+!!!!, starts cute but then there is smut, lactating and feeding babies, double 🍆🍆, fingering, p in v, οral (male), anal, dοuble penetr. Don’t like, don’t read please.

This is part of a series. Find all the parts here.

Soft afternoon light filtered through the colorful curtains. The nursery was filled with the adorable cooing of your baby naga boys. You sat at the comfortable armchair, your naga hybrids in the cradle of your arms. It had been almost two months since your precious eggs had hatched, stealing your heart forever. They were a mix of human and serpentine body, just like their daddies.

You marveled at their tiny, adorable forms which fit just perfectly in your arms. Little Rowan looked after his daddy, Thorne. He had a cute, chubby face with big eyes the same color as yours, and a tiny green-scaled tail. Little Bjorn, however had inherited your human nose and lips, and Ragnor’s eyes and red-scaled tail.

You were so proud that your DNA had been accepted by the eggs and they now looked after you as well.

You kissed each of their chubby cheeks and blew raspberries on their round bellies. The little ones giggled and looked at you with tenderness and love. Ahh, your heart felt so full!

Sitting back comfortably, you lowered the neckline of your dress and offered your breasts to your hungry little naga hybrids. They eagerly latched on your nipples, tiny hands nuzzling your breasts as they began to nurse, their tails cradling your arms waist. It was a calming and incredibly beautiful sight, watching them feed and grow stronger with each passing day. And dear Gods, they did eat a lot. Which was good because you had so much milk that sometimes it made you uncomfortable.

Gentle cooing sounds echoed in the quiet room as the babies fed, their tails curled lovingly around you. They suckled greedily, their attention fully devoted to your breasts. A soft slithering sound caught your attention; your mates. With a smile, you turned to see Thorne and Ragnor entering the room. Your naga mates were tall and handsome with strong shoulders and chiseled muscles. Their lower torsos extended into supremely long and powerful tails that moved gracefully across the floor.

They had just come back from work. Thorne and Ragnor were rangers, they protected the frontiers of the rainforest. Your mates looked incredibly smug to have returned just in time for the feeding of the little nagas. They surrounded you from both sides, their scaled tails coiling around your seat. No matter how many times you fed the babies, they loved the sight of you and they also got highly aroused by it.

“Hey, there pretty mama,” Thorne said, bending down to kiss you deeply, tongue slipping in your mouth.

When Thorne pulled back from your mouth, Ragnor was claiming your lips, his long tongue brushing against your smaller one.

“Our beautiful mate,” Ragnor murmured proudly. “Feeding our babies. Looking so beautiful and…” he whispered in your ear, “sexy.”

“I breastfeed at least twenty times a day, aren’t you bored watching me yet?” you teased them, a bright smile on your face.

“Never,” Thorne said huskily, eyes on the babies suckling your nipples. “We can never have enough.”

“Look at our precious little ones,” Ragnor said, caressing each cheek of the babies as they fed from your breasts. They moaned softly at their daddies but kept feeding, too hungry for milk to care.

“Hungry little monsters,” Thorne chuckled. “They are enjoying it so much.”

“They take after their daddies,” Ragnor said, leaning in to kiss the mound of your left breast. His lips were warm and soft against your skin, but the baby didn’t like the disturbance and groaned softly.

“Easy there, little guy. I’m not going to steal your mama,” Ragnor said then winked up at you, “yet.”

Thorne followed, kissing the mound of your right breast. The other naga baby ignored him and latched your nipple harder as if to keep it for himself.

You winced a little at the tug, your cheeks blushing. “You two are incorrigible. Worse than babies.

Ragnor gently stroked your neck. “We can’t help it. It’s hard not to get a little jealous of our babies,” he grinned. “They get the best parts of you.”

You laughed, the sound blending with the hungry coos of the babies. “Well, our babies have their needs,” you replied, your eyes twinkling with love. “They need to be fed constantly.”

“And so do we,” Thorne whispered, kissing you lightly. “But we can wait.”

Once the babies finished their meal, they released your nipples with soft wet plops and squealed up at their daddies. Ragnor and Thorne held them in their arms, kissed and fondled their little tails. Watching your mates with the babies made you so emotional and at the same time, so happy that you’d carried their eggs and went through all the intense naga birth procedures.

Your baby hybrids were worth all of this and so much more.

An hour later, your babies were freshly clean and tucked in their cots, sleeping with their tails coiled over one another and their cute little mouths forming precious smiles. You and your mates kissed them one last time on their foreheads and quietly left the nursery.

“I believe it’s now time for you to take care of the daddies,” Ragnor told you, his eyes gleaming with mischief.

You giggled as they led the way to your bedroom, Ragnor’s strong arms pulling you down onto the mattress, his long tail wrapping around the bed. He kissed you, his mouth possessing yours, tongue licking inside your mouth. Thorne joined in your side, kissing the crook of your neck, tasting and teasing, making you moan with need.

A few expert tugs and wiggles and they had you naked beneath them, their hungry gazes roaming your body. After the birth, your breasts were full and round, your nipples incredibly sensitive and leaking milk. Your belly was also softer and curvier as were your thighs. Your mates were in love with your body and since you were a little shy about these changes, they took every chance to remind you just how perfect and sexy you were.

Ragnor slipped between your legs, arms holding under your knees and spreading them wide apart. Your pussy clenched with anticipation, leaking with arousal and with your mates’ seed from when they’d fucked you earlier this morning.

Thorne’s lips trailed a path down your neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses. Ragnor took one swollen tit in his hand, his tongue flicking over your sensitive nipple. Thorne cupped the other, molding it to his large palm while his thumb toyed with your leaky nipple. You squealed as they took turns worshipping your tender buds, hungry lips and tongues bringing you to the edge of ecstasy.

“Such stunning tits,” Thorne murmured, his breath hot against one nipple. “Full and ripe.”

Ragnor’s tongue nursed from the other bud, lapping up the leaking milk. “I could spend an eternity worshiping our mate,” he rasped. “Feasting on her leaking nipples, pulling, tugging, suckling.”

“Also fucking her pretty pussy and tight ass,” Thorne added cheekily, suckling your nipple into his mouth, tongue whisking the leaking tip.

“Oh, yes, that, too,” Ragnor said with a husky drawl. “Pounding her so deep that she can’t speak. Filling her up with our cum.”

“S—Stop teasing,” you said, clutching both their shoulders, your body shaking from overstimulation.

Unbothered, your mates resumed devouring your tits, massaging the tender mounds and doing all sorts of shameless things to your buds with their tongues. Your poor nipples, so sensitive and aching, responded eagerly to your mates’ touches. You stayed there and moaned lewdly as they had their way with you, your breaths coming in short, ragged gasps.

Soon, their hands joined in the sensual game.

Thorne’s fingers reached between your legs and he began to rub your clit in slow circles. Instinctively you arched your body, bucking your hips to gain more friction. At the same time, Ragnor’s hand slid over your inner thighs before stopping to tease the rosebud of your ass. He probed gently at first, his fingers lubricated with your juices, tracing the rosebud before thrusting two thick fingers inside.

Drawn-out moans left you as you thrashed and wiggled while they devoured your nipples and teased your pussy and ass. Their tails came to clutch around your thighs, holding you brazenly open for their ministrations which heightened your arousal and finally pushed you over the edge.

With a cry, you came undone, your body convulsing, your mind blanking out for a few moments. Ragnor and Thorne continued to tease your body, no less intensely. They suckled your tits loudly, slurped at your milk and let out animalistic growls. Thorne’s fingers were languid over your pussy while Ragnor’s stayed buried inside your ass.

“Fuuuuck, you’re exquisite, mate,” Thorne murmured, his lips claiming yours.

Ragnor watched as you were kissed, pulled out his fingers and leaned to kiss your neck.

Both nagas let out low vibrating purrs that that sent shivers down your spine.

When you finally came down from your high, you kneeled between them and started stroking their bodies, taking turns kissing each of them while tracing their bulging muscles and then down their cockslits. Their double cocks were already aroused and had emerged from their slits, jutting angrily toward their stomachs.

Your hands found Thorne’s shafts and your fingers wrapped around both of them, his cocks obscenely big in your small palms. Meanwhile you worked your tongue around each of Ragnor’s dicks, tracing the bulging veins and licking the beads of pre-cum on the heads. Ragnor jerked his hips with an audible moan, thrusting one dick into your mouth, your lips stretching, throat tensing.

Their tails joined in the game, coiling around your breasts while the tips slithered down your legs, opening your asscheeks. Ragnor’s tail filled your pussy while Thorne’s slid past the tight bud of your ass and up your guts. Muffled moans escaped you at the dual penetration.

“Mphhh…” you breathed when Ragnor drew back his cock which was glistening in your saliva. You immediately sucked his other cock while pumping Thorne’s with your other hand, both their tails fucking you with primal ferocity, causing your tits to bounce.

You alternated between your mates, pumping them with your hands and taking them in your mouth. Their cocks were hard and thick, the long girths kissing the back of your throat. You choked only a little and took them like a champ, slick sucking sounds and primal groans resounding across the room.

“Yes, mate —fuckkk, feels so fucking good.”

Ragnor slammed his cock down your throat, chasing his release.

“Ghrr….! Hmnn!” You gagged when the rip of his cock kissed the back of your neck, his hot release spurting down your mouth. You took both cockheads into your mouth and shallowed every drop. Ragnor roared, his hips undulating violently as he came down your throat.

Thorne came next and you instantly put his shafts in your mouth. Your mouth filled with the cockheads while your hands wrapped around the lengths that didn’t fit. In seconds, you were swallowing load after load of his cum. His jizz was too much, it dribbled down your lips but Thorne gently pulled it back into your mouth with his thumbs. You swallowed everything obediently.

“Such a good girl,” Thorne growled as you nursed his cocks, licking a long slow stripe up the underside of the shafts. “Taking every drop of our cum.”

“And letting our tails fuck her tight little holes,” Ragnor drawled, his fingers tracing where you were filled to the hilt with their tails. “Want our tails to keep fucking you, love? Or do you want our cocks?”

“Hmphhh…” you tried to talk but your mouth was filled with Thorne’s cockheads.

“There you go,” Thorne slowly pulled back, slipping from your mouth, a string of saliva connecting his shafts to your mouth.

“Co-cocks… want to be full,” you muttered, a hazy smile playing on your lips. “Cocks, pl-please.”

“Whatever our mate wants, our mate gets,” Thorne kissed you wetly. “We’ll give you our cocks and our love.”

“And lots, lots of orgasms,” Ragnor added, claiming your lips, too.

Thorne laid down on the mattress and gently rearranged your body, pulling you to lay with your back on his chest, your legs splayed wide. Ragnor came to rest between them, watching at where their tails were still fucking you slowly. The nagas retracted their appendages and instantly wrapped around your legs, keeping them obscenely open.

Ragnor hovered above you, rubbed your clit then used his thumbs to pull your outer lips apart and expose the glistening entrance of your pussy. You were drenched, your folds pink and puffy. The bud of your ass was also swollen and the sight of your eager holes made them feral.

“How about I fuck your lovely pussy, love?” Ragnor rumbled, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Thorne can take your tight little ass.”

“Hmm… yes please…” you clutched him desperately. “Want you both.”

“Sharing is caring,” Thorne muttered cheekily as he lifted you by the globes of your ass and positioned you over his twin cocks. He cupped both shafts and prodded your tight asshole with the heads. You whimpered, your tight hole stretching to accommodate his massive cocks. Inch by inch he lowered you down until he was deep up your ass.

It was then when Ragnor pushed forward, clutching his shafts in his palms and driving them inside your pussy. You accepted them, inch by delicious inch, filled to the limit, your belly swelling with their girths inside you.

“Tight. So wet and tight.” Ragnor’s gaze smoldered with need. “Taking us so good. Our good little mate. The mother of our offspring. Gonna make you feel so fucking good, love.“

They started to grind inside you, their hips pumping steadily. They stretched and filled your holes again and again. You sobbed and clung to Ragnor for dear life, while Thorne toyed with your nipples and flicked your clit in time with his thrusts. You came in no time, pussy and ass clenching around their cocks, body arching wildly. Their tails gripped your hips so you wouldn’t shift away from their pounding.

They didn’t stop.

They kept fucking you through your orgasm, Ragnor’s grip tightening as he pulled you to ride him. Your legs wrapped around his torso and he lowered you onto his thick, waiting cocks. The stretch was intense, his girths stretching you to the brim. Thorne sat up behind you, his chest against your back as he adjusted the angle and thrust his cocks up your ass.

The new position was overwhelming, you were so completely filled, consumed by the sheer intensity of their shafts rubbing inside you.

They settled into a maddening rhythm, pounding your holes at the same time, never leaving you empty. Your arms clutched them while your small body, trapped between them jerked in time with their powerful thrusts. The sensations were maddening, leaving you gasping and begging for release.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” Thorne breathed against your ear, hands tweaking your nipples. “I can feel your ass clenching around me.”

Ragnor hummed. “Can’t last much longer,” he said, his voice rough.

“Hmmm… m’ too, want to come— ahnn… close so close,” you whimpered as they pounded into you, changing nothing in their tactics.

“Let it go, little mate,” Ragnor drawled. “Let it go and take our cum, hm?”

You nodded fervently, clutching them while bouncing on them and chasing your peak.

Thorne’s cocks drove deep into your ass, and Ragnor’s cocks filled your pussy utterly, their relentless pace shattering you. You came with a cry, every nerve ending on fire.

They followed right after, their cocks pulsing and filling you with loads and loads of their seed. It was so much it overflowed and tricked down your thighs.

As the aftershocks of your orgasm faded, they gently rolled you sideways, their cocks still hard inside you. They kissed you, Thorne against your back, his hands caressing your face. Ragnor lay in front of you, whispering soothing words as he nibbled at your neck. You fell asleep nestled within them, satisfied and full of love.

Your mates. The loves of your life. The fathers of your children. Your everything.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! Also, what do you want to happen next? What do you want to see? More smutty stuff on Patreon, too. 😊🖤

[violetswritingg]

Thunderstruck

Tyler Owens x OFC!

Description: When cowgirl meets cowboy after a year of no-contact and chaos ensues during storm season!

Rating: M (Mentions of blood and death in Tornadoes and storms alike, angst and loss of loved ones, car accidents, Tornado aftermath, and injury to characters, slight age gap (5 years))

Hey! I don't normally post my writing on here, I'm normally only on Wattpad but I decided to cross post and so here is the first of many fics to be moved over here and enjoyed as well! I hope you guys enjoy the story, I honestly have no idea who many chapters this is going to be lol.

Want to read the other chapters?

Click here

1

April, 2005

Oklahoma

The sound of silverware on plates was all that could be heard, but that was normal for a Thornton-Harding-St. James family dinner. Nathan and Juliette had been tense all dinner barely saying a word to each other. All since Jo and Bill had arrived all smiles. The women's mother Michelle, and both Jo and Bill watching the parents as if they were an active bomb ready to go off at any moment. Nathan was at least trying. Smiling, as best he could, and making polite conversation when prompted, the father mainly focused on Riley who sat on his other side. Making sure she wasn't playing with her food.

At six she should know better, and he needed to teach her it was rude to waste the food someone had worked really hard to make for them. But now that the food had been eaten, there wasn't much distraction left to hide behind.

"Uh, so, Julie, how's Riley been doing in school?" Jo tried; she really did. But Juliette was mean on a good day and that day was not today. The empty wine glass next to her being her fourth, and once she got to drinking her temper just got worse.

"She's doing fine." Juliette sniffed as she sat up straighter, a forced smile on her face. Eyes narrowed as she settled into a defensive position. "Why?"

"No reason, just making conversation." Jo sighed, looking at Bill for a second before meeting Nathan's grimaced grin. Trying not to cause a scene in front of everybody was taking all his will power, wanting nothing more than to snap at Juliette and shake her. Hoping that would maybe change her entire personality, the one he hadn't seen until she was telling him she was pregnant and that it was his all those years ago.

"Right." Juliette scoffed, "You have no right to judge me, you don't even have a kid!" her jaw snapped shut, eyes blistering as she spat her words at her older sister. Jo tensed up and Riley had started to pay attention to the adults at the table instead of finishing her little slice of pie. Nathan wanted to crawl into a hole and die, take Riley with him far far away from Juliette. Riley loved Jo and Bill though and he couldn't just do that. Michelle was over the moon when she found out she was going to have a grandbaby, she's 75 now and doesn't have a lot of time left to spend with anyone, much less Riley, not with how her health had been declining recently. The stress of living in Tornado alley having taken its toll after her husband was taken in that fateful storm.

Riley was her whole world. Michelle watched her when Nathan, Bill, and Jo were out storm chasing. Juliette, even though she lived in the same house, the Harding family farm. Being rebuilt on the same land, Michelle couldn't bare to leave it behind after the original house was destroyed. Riley didn't mind it, even though she missed her dad, she loved getting to hang out with Grandma. They were like best friends. But Nathan had needed to start taking Riley with him and his team because of her health issues, and because he knew that Juliette would leave Riley to her own devices for however long he was gone, the almost 6 year old hanging out in the tech van usually a couple miles behind him and always a safe distance from the storm in pursuit.

"I am very much aware of that Juliette." Jo grit out, Bill reaching out an arm around her shoulders, the couple had hit their early 40's, still childless, still chasing. But had been entertaining the idea of settling down after one too many close calls. The topic of having kids was a sensitive one, they had been trying quietly for about a year now and no luck. Something Jo had shared with her sister and Nathan in confidence.

"The food was great Michelle-" Bill tried to move onto another topic, but got blocked.

"I'm not surprised though, I'm sure there's cobwebs up there at this point." Juliette cruelly laughed. "I'm sure Bill will move on to a younger model when he finally realizes you'll never be able to produce."

"Juliette May Thornton! You watch your-"

"What mom?" Juliette turned on Michelle next, the elderly woman sitting taller in her chair, white hair pulled back in a simple style, warm eyes worn and normally full of life. Now though, they only held disappointment in her youngest daughter. "There it is. There's the look. I'm not going to take this; I am not going to be attacked in my own goddamn house." Julliette huffed and pushed out her chair with a sharp scrape against the wood flooring and stomped upstairs.

Nathan let out a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose, as Riley's little voice called out for her mom. Only to be ignored.

"Why don't you go turn on some cartoons okay baby? You got 30 minutes until bedtime, you get one show and then in the bath for you okay?" Nathan picked up his daughter and hauled her into his lap, booping her nose, causing light giggles to erupt.

Riley's dark blonde curls bouncing as she nodded quickly, Nathan setting her on her feet and the adults chuckled as she all but ran. Already hearing the Scooby-doo theme song playing over the air. The tension leaving his shoulders now that the cause of all his stress was no longer in the room.

"I'm sorry." He breathed, "She's been in a bad mood all day, picking fights just because."

"Hey, I grew up with her. If I'm not used to it at this point, then I need a thicker skin." Jo chuckled, despite the hurt still lingering in her eyes.

"Still, what crawled up her ass and died?" Bill scoffed, pulling Jo to his side and pressing a kiss to the side of her head. Nathan watching, his sight going green for a second. That's what he wanted, it's what he didn't know he wanted until he saw it with them, until he had to spend his days attached to Juliette. Riley was the bright spot, the good thing to come out of a shitty situation. Nathan would deal with Juliette every day for the rest of his life as long as he got to see Riley.

"I have been asking myself that question for years Billy." Nathan sighed out, laughing to himself, resigned to dealing with it later.

~~*~~

"What you said at dinner was uncalled for." Nathan puffed out, pulling off pillows from their shared bed. He may as well be sleeping alone though.

"Are you gonna attack me now too Nathanial?" Juliette scoffed, rolling her eyes at him from the bathroom vanity mirror as she got ready for bed. The slight slur to her voice telling him the wine was starting to hit her full force now.

"I'm not attacking you, simply stating you went too far. And that maybe you owe Jo an apology?" He tried, but got nothing but a single, indignant laugh in response.

"You think she's better than me huh? Is that it?!" Nathan hung his head, abandoning the task of making up the bed. He pushed back the tears of frustration and looked back at the woman he was sure he had been in love with, or at the very least liked at one point.

"When have I ever said that?" He started, voice heavy with exhaustion.

"You don't have to say it, you've always liked her better than me. Just like everyone else! I thought you were different!"

"You are 36 years old Juliette! When are you going to let this go?" He never raised his voice when they argued, never wanting Riley to hear, but Juliette seemed to want to wake the whole house which included Jo and Bill who were spending the night before heading out in the morning. Thunder rolled in the distance.

"You aren't denying it! God! I am so stupid! I never should have stayed. Never should have-" She kept muttering under her breath every seeming regret she had as she stormed into the room, yanked open the closet, grabbing a duffle bag from inside and throwing her clothes in it haphazardly. "This place is suffocating! You are suffocating with your judgy eyes and every comment about how I raise Riley-"

"You don't! That's the issue! What are you doing?" Nathan sighed as she plopped the duffle bag on the still made up side of the bed, her side.

"What does it look like. I can't stay here. Not with you or them. All of you just hate on me all the time, look at me like I'm nothing but a disappointment. I'm sorry I'm not perfect! I'm sorry I'm not golden girl Jo!" Juliette finished, throwing an arm towards the door, chest heaving as she zipped up her duffle bag and yanked open the bedroom door. Slamming it shut behind her.

Nathan listened to her as she went down the stairs, taking a breath before he was going after her, repeating over and over she is the mother of your child in his head. When they first met, it was in the middle of storm season and Jo's kid sister decided she wanted to come with her chasing that year, she was just as wild back then. Less mean, less insecure. She was all bright eyes and wide smiles, soft skin and warm affection. Until she got pregnant. That's when everything changed.

"Jules! Jules!" Nathan whisper-shouted, as he tripped down the stairs.

"What's happening?" Bill questioned, opening the door to the guest room on the first floor, in a white t-shirt and his boxers, yawning and scratching his face. Jo's voice behind him asking the same thing, sleep slurring her words though.

"I don't know William, ask your wife." Juliette spit as she past him and Nathan was still trying to get to her.

"Just go back to bed, sorry for waking you-"

"Oh shut up Nathan!"

"Was I talking to you?!" He finally snapped and Bill's mouth dropped, Juliette looked like she had been slapped.

"Well, I never..." Juliette huffed, holding a hand to her chest. Crocodile tears in her eyes, Nathan had seen them enough to know she was just trying to make him feel guilty. It was at that moment that Jo decided to get out of bed and come to the door to see what was going on.

"Bill, Jo, please, go back to bed. We're fine-"

"No! We're not fine. You know this is all your fault? Right?! If I had never gotten pregnant, my life wouldn't be like it is now. Miserable. If I had never met you or had Riley I would be happy. I wish I had never met you! I wish I had gotten rid of the baby, keeping her was a mistake-"

"Hey!-" Nathan could only see red.

"Mommy?"

Everything stopped and it felt like a lead weight had been dropped into Nathan's stomach. He turned around and looked up at the bottom of the stairs, the dirty-blonde head of his daughter, her big blue eyes, his eyes, staring up at her mother with confusion.

It was clear Juliette didn't know what to say, and Nathan was ready to swing if she said anything negative to his kid. There was a tense silence, Riley pulled her blanket and stuffed rabbit closer to her, looking unsure.

"Do you want a hug? You look sad." Riley pattered slowly up to the woman, stopping at her feet and looking up at the much taller adult who had given birth to her. Tugging on her sweatpants gently, looking for a connection. It broke Nathan's heart, knowing Riley would never get that. At least not with Juliette.

"I'm not your mommy anymore." With that Juliette turned on her heel and left. Slamming the front door behind her.

"Daddy?" Riley, with tears in her eyes looked to the man who was instantly there. Picking her up and holding her to him, her tears dampening the shoulder of his t-shirt. "Where did mommy go?"

"I don't know baby. I don't know." With one last look over his shoulder to Bill and Jo, the couple grinning sadly at the father-daughter pair. Nathan doing his best to not shake in anger. Juliette was gone for now, he had to focus on Riley. Make sure she was okay. And so, he took his daughter back up to her room and three bedtime stories, a lullaby, and a forehead kiss later she was back down and snoring softly. Hair sprawled crazily behind her, her favorite dino pj's on, blanket and rabbit next to her.

Nathan's love-filled gaze was like honey, his fingers petting her hair back from her face. When Juliette told him she was pregnant he had been terrified, convinced she was lying. He didn't take it well. He was still in his PhD program, had just been offered a huge grant to keep working on his already existing research, he couldn't see himself able to have a kid without throwing everything he had been working towards his whole life away.

Which wasn't true, he had to defer the grant for a year, finished out that year at school and then dropped out of the PhD program, it killed him, but he couldn't go to school back home in Arkansas if Juliette refused to leave Oklahoma. He may not have wanted the kid in the first place but he was raised right and was going to step up however he had to.

He wanted to be there for Juliette as she carried the baby, support her. She was miserable, she lost close to twenty pounds due to morning sickness and had to be on bed rest for months. It wasn't fun and she was horrible every minute of it. Michelle and him had to walk on eggshells every second of every day, and even then they still would set her off someway somehow. They let it slide during the pregnancy because it was understandable, she was constantly uncomfortable, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't walk. But after Riley was born the behavior stayed, and only got worse as Riley struggled to breast feed and Juliette struggled to bond with her baby.

The connection with Nathan and Riley had been immediate though and that pissed Juliette off, it was just one more person who hadn't chosen her first. That, in her mind, didn't want her. Nathan suggested therapy but was met with a scoff and another argument about her being scared he was trying to take Riley away from her by claiming she was crazy, which was so not the case.

He could still remember when he first held Riley in the hospital, how perfect she was in every way, and still is. He hadn't ever felt the kind of love he did when he first laid eyes on his daughter, her little fingers wrapped around his pointer finger and his entire heart. She was an easy kid, at least with him. Juliette never seemed to figure out how to calm Riley down when she was fussy or upset, and would get frustrated with her quickly, yelling, berating. Nathan had walked in one time when Riley had gotten a fever and needed one of them up with her at all times, he could have sworn Juliette was about to shake the, then months old Riley, who had been wailing for what felt like hours that night.

He stopped trusting her to be alone with Riley at that moment in time. In the back of his mind he always knew Juliette wasn't going to stick around, she never did when things got hard. Fact of the matter was this had happened before, multiple times, Nathan just hoped that one day Riley wouldn't remember any of this. Or the hurtful words her mom said to her that night.

~~*~~

[aceofsnacks]

I did a tour of GO filming locations

It was around London, so I didn't get all of them, but the trip has been such a blast I just have to share the pics!

1. St James park: so many birds! And tourists. Which is good because the secret government agents wouldn't be able to feed so many ducks. I saw pelicans too—they were huge and pink and funny!!

2. Berkley Square (they actually didn't film anything here, but still): it's a giant construction site now. The only birds I spotted were parrots, so many of them, at least 5 nests, and loud too. No sane nightingale would ever come there, this much is true. But the song is referenced on one of the bench plaques <3

3. The Ritz / The Criterion: they both look nothing like the restaurant in the show (maybe the Criterion changed since 2019?) But both are fancy! When my rich uncle leaves me a giant inheritance and I find my 6000 year soulmate, I am so taking them out there, just you wait.

4. The Globe: this is my favourite theatre now!!!Macbeth was magnificent! And the standing tickets were so worth it: actors were down in the crowd and interacted with everyone! I got some of Macduff's blood on me! (Can't get this anywhere else :D) The Globe is closed in winter, so I'm already planning to buy tickets for next year.

5. The Bandstand and the-place-where-Gabriel-was-running: after marinating on Tumblr for so long I felt shocked seeing the word "bandstand" on a physical sign in the park. Like, put up a warning at least, my heart needs to be prepared?? The actual bandstand was at the same time smaller and bigger than I expected. Also those red bits—apparently they were there the whole time; I was imagining it black and white for some reason.

Also I met another crazy fan taking pictures of the bandstand in the rain, and I remember thinking, they have to be just as crazy as me xD

6. Tavistock square (where they switched bodies): the filming crew must have moved the benches around, because the square itself is so tiny and you can only match the scene background if you stand all the way back in the bushes. Surely there must have been a better way.

7. Crystal palace: just as I suspected, you can't see the dinosaurs from the bench because of all the trees in the way. The dinos are hilarious though, they look more like🗿and not like 🦖. In the show Warlock seems to have written a rude word on the teleosaurus info card, how dare he!

8. Tadfield (Hambleden, really): I thought, it's just two hours from London, easy day trip, in and out, what could go wrong. Cue to me stumbling over muddy fields in the dark surrounded by menacing sheep and regretting everything. The village is cute and English and has literally three streets and a post office and nothing else. And sheep.

9. Bonus round, my take on Aziraphale's bookshop xD "Seducing women? I think you've got the wrong shop!"

10. Bonus bonus round, food! (am I or am I not the ace of snacks after all?) An oyster recipe from Marcus Gavius Apicius' cookbook (Rome, 1c CE, stumbled upon it in the museum of Reading), and Eccles cakes (soooo sweet they don't calm people down but give them instant diabetes)

And that's it!! Thank you for reading all the way <3 Here is a secret snack 🍎

[retiredficwriter]

me? being tagged by @jetsteelyourheart ?? what an honor!

just like the top 5 favorite characters: Make a poll with 5 of your favorite rarepairs/crackships. See which one is everyone's favorite!

i became too invested in this. some of these ships i haven't thought in years, so it was nice to relive the times i was obsessed with them. i narrowed it to one ship per media/fandom and just like my tag-buddy, I'll provide my questionable reasons/propaganda.

REASONS/PROPAGANDA

Sydney Sage/Trey Juarez:

so when i was first reading bloodlines, i read online that sydney gets a human boyfriend in book 2. i had heard about brayden but never in the context of HIM being the boyfriend, so i thought he was the random dude in book 1 (wasn't he, unironically, called hayden??) who asked sydney out. i was theorizing who that boyfriend would be until my brain went: "omg.... IS IT TREY??" and got soo hyped. i loved their interaction in book 1 and thought exploring them in a romantic setting would be so interesting, especially with the implication of trey having a major role. they are so similar (growing up in a cult, daddy issues, both being smart) and yet, trey has some adrian-like traits?? charming, popular in the dating pool, laidback... and it would create some tension between sydrian??? imagine adrian watching trey and sydney date and feeling discouraged because she found a human "version" of him?? and with trey being a warrior, he would try to get sydney to have the alchemist side with them and push the "moroi are evil" narrative, creating more doubts for sydney to rebel! BUT THEN SYDNEY HELPS TREY REBEL AGAINST THE WARRIORS!!

i love their friendship as is, and know for a fact they wouldn't last that long but man... i would have eat up their failed romance.

bonus point for an adrian/sydney/trey polycule

Rachel Berry/Sam Evans:

ah yes. my first ever rarepair. since that one episode in season 2 where she and finn helped sam with his young siblings, i fell in love with them. if you were in the glee fandom, you know every single couple was problematic one way or the other (this is the writers' fault). yet somehow, every relationship sam was in, it was the healthiest the woman he was with ever had. and i wanted that for rachel! i ate all the crumbs this show gave me, which were... almost nonexistent. the big difference between this rarepair and the others on this poll is that, in the show's final season, THEY BECAME CANON. I WAS SO HAPPY. they were very unpopular because it came out of nowhere and the writers only put them together to give rachel a love interest for the final season (and give the storyline they planned for finn to someone else), which... fair. but he was so caring, encouraging her to follow her dreams and telling her the tough truth about things she didn't want to hear. it was so good to see rachel heal from finn and her failed broadway dreams while with sam. (also she was less insufferable with him).

but then, ha... they broke up on the third to last episode of the series. so she could be with jesse who showed up out of nowhere on that same episode, after he "left" 4-3 seasons ago. don't get me wrong - i love st. berry! jonathan groff and lea michelle have chemistry! love ambitious broadway wannabes being a power couple! but why not, i don't know, put the storyline she had with sam with jesse instead so it could be more organic and avoid crushing my dreams???

i'm fine. not bitter at all. I'M FINE. I'M F-

Clarisse La Rue/Silena Beauregard (PJO):

this isn't a rarepair compared to the previous two, but within the pjo fandom, it isn't as popular (surprisingly?? at least in ao3. i'm so out of the loop). first time reading pjo, little old only thought of clarisse and silena as best friends. but as i got older and read more fan analysis of the series, i realized the tragedy of these two. either 1) clarisse had an unrequited crush 2) they dated and didn't work out 3) it was a failed situationship. the daughter of ares, the girl people in camp-half blood are so scared of because she is mean to everyone and can (and will) beat the shit out of them, had a wholesome friendship with the daughter of aphrodite, and one of the nicest people in the camp?? and this friendship appeared because silena helped clarisse with her "boy problems"??? and then clarisse basically protected and comforted silena after what happened with charlie?? no spoilers for those who haven't read the books, but they parallel a famous greek mythology couple and their ending hurts. still love silena/charlie, but god... poor clarisse...

can't wait to keep rereading the books and suffer once i get to their part!

Gary "Eggsy" Unwin/Roxy Morton (Kingsman)

everyone prefers hartwin and merlin/eggsy, but i can't help but love mortwin. i watched the first movie and loved their small moments. loved how they bonded over being the underdogs in the competition and, instead of becoming sworn enemies, they recognized each other as worthy opponents. their small fun, friendly-rivarly banter was cute. part of me was relieved they stayed as friends in the end... but i couldn't help but be soo disappointed. the chemistry? it was there!! even taron egerton said there was potential to explore a romance if given the chance! plus, i'm a sucker for well-developed friends-to-lovers.

never watched the sequel but after reading what the writers did to roxy, i'm glad i didn't and never will. i can now create my own sequel in my head and read fanfics of the story they deserve 😌

Bella Swan/Leah Clearwater (Twilight):

i want to thank this one brazilian fanfic i found years ago (and never wrote down the name and lost it 😔) for presenting me with this ship. everyone talks about bella/alice, bella/rosalie, bella/carlisle... but what about bella/leah??? think new moon, when bella has just been abandoned by edward, meeting the werewolves through jacob and therefore leah, who is still dealing with the whole paul/emily thing. they can still start out with leah hating bella but they can bond over being abandoned by their boyfriends and heal from it, and in the end realize they don't need them anymore - they can have each other!

i also love if edward still comes back and bella is conflicted, and it's a edward/bella/leah love triangle (apparently people ship edward/leah and how i never heard of it?! imagine the drama!!) i will take anything where jacob isn't involved

tagging @morocorra @forcebookish @artianaiolanthe @sydneysageivashkov + anyone who wants to do this!

[muffinrecord]

Shitty Review of Uwasa Mikoto

I keep rewriting the big review post (the problem is that talking about Uwasa Mikoto means talking about Regular Mikoto and it's a headache) so let's do a little one with my thoughts that is less intimidating:

TLDR: Nice but not a must-have. If you don't have a good generalized attacker for things like Hundred Evils, you may want to invest.

I'd put this under a cut but you know what, I won't! I wrote all this, y'all are gonna have to read it or scroll by it cause fuck you

Uwasa Mikoto is a better version of Regular Mikoto.

Uwasa Mikoto is a Support/MP Support/Tank Support, just like Regular Mikoto, but now Uwasa Mikoto can actually deal out damage.

She gives the whole team Strengthened Counter which can hilariously kill enemies when they attack you. It's better (in some ways) than regular Mikoto, whose attack did fuck all when she would counter back.

Uwasa Mikoto can gain MP much more easily than Regular Mikoto through her SE which gives MP Gain Up and MP Up When Damaged, something that Regular Mikoto really ought to have had.

She also comes with a passive 40% MP Gauge on Start, and you can combine that with her shitty personal that gives 15% MP Gauge on Start (and Accele MP Gain Up). This makes it easy for her to hit Magia/Doppel on turn two just by taking a few hits from the enemy, something she can handle easily with her good stats.

VARIABLE makes her very interesting. She'll have it on herself for three turns and then can get it back for more turns on Doppel. Couple that with the Doppel's MP Restore and her penchant for gaining MP when getting hit, and you have a very tanky support who can whip out some damage fairly consistently.

She's more selfish a unit in some ways than Regular Mikoto. For example, she no longer gives the team 5 MP Regen for three turns and she no longer will give the following on Doppel: Reflect Debuffs/MP Up When Damaged/Strengthened Counter to the team either. Instead she gives herself Damage Increase, Reflect Debuffs, Variable, and MP Restore.

She DOES give MP Restore on Connect, which is always nice.

I was testing out Uwasa Mikoto and comparing her to Regular Mikoto for a while today. Both of my units only have two slots, which is kind of a problem for someone you want to tank, but I found that Uwasa Mikoto was still decent without her last two slots. I started off with a really silly but fun team comp for mirrors:

This actually proved pretty enlightening in some areas. For example, you obviously don't want to field two Mikotos, but also all these supports start to run into and interfere with each other-- not enough to keep me from winning, but enough that these girls who want to take hits just weren't getting them. But first off, some things I noticed, especially regarding both Mikotos:

First off, like mentioned above, all these girls but especially both Mikotos want to take hits and will end up stealing hits from each other. This is especially bad when Uwasa Mikoto has mp gain up when damaged and Regular Mikoto has Guardian, which kinda interferes with that.

Secondly, for Darkness Mitama at least, the whole Reflect Debuffs thing doesn't work when the enemy team is Skill Sealed, so it felt sort of like a waste.

After that, there was an unexpected issue that really should have been expected by me. Both Mikotos come with barrier-- Mikoto with a higher barrier for herself, and Uwasa Mikoto a smaller barrier for the whole team. Barrier will always choose the highest source, so it feels sort of like a waste to use both at the same time, especially since regular Mikoto will have Guardian and should take most of the hits.

This made me realize a small issue that Uwasa Mikoto will have on more established accounts (that prioritize good units)

All three of these gals can give the team barrier. Infinite Iroha will give 5k + 3% Regen HP on her SE Active, MadoIro will give it on Magia/Doppel (for 5k and 8k respectively), and Uwasa Mikoto will give it on her SE Active (5k + Str. Counter for 3 turns) and on her Magia/Doppel (8k and 10k respectively).

This isn't a bad thing and you can sort of play around it? But it does present a problem-- Barrier won't stack, so using all their doppels on the same turn feels like a bad idea, especially on punishing fights. But sometimes you really want to use all the doppels on the same turn, and you'll feel punished for that.

This isn't the worst thing in the world by any means, it just shows that Uwasa Mikoto has a lot of overlap with other units.

Additionally, as much as she can be compared to Regular Mikoto, I think you can also compare her to a lot of the recent fast mp magia units released. She'll gain mp quickly and can be firing off Magia/Doppels pretty easily, especially when she tanks like you want her to. That said, she does have a flaw-- she can't heal herself. The barrier is supposed to help with that (and her good stats), but eventually you'll want to use a healer... and some of the best healer choices come with-- you know-- barrier.

Then again, I suppose she'd pair well with units like Scene zero Madoka or... Kako if you're lacking in good heals.

Really, if I had to compare her to someone... Yeah Regular Mikoto comes up, but so does Uwasa Sana? Both are self sufficient Balance types with a lot of defense and potential attack power. Like don't get me wrong, this is NOT the best comparison, but both feel like "brawler" types-- they can stand on their own and take a lot of enemies down with them.

I also felt like her Strengthened Counter was far more useful here. I outright saw her kill a tank after getting hit twice, which was hilarious and also made sense-- According to the Fandom Wiki, Strengthened Counter "has a base power of 120%", which makes her counter-attack pretty weighty. Is this a good thing? The benefit of Regular Mikoto is that she's not dealing a lot of damage, which is strictly good for stuff like the old version of Ranked Mirrors, meaning that you can prolong fights. However, Uwasa Mikoto should be more helpful for regular PVE at least.

I actually think that she might be a decent choice for things like Hundred Evils, if you don't have a good attacker already. The variable gives her a good way to deal lots of damage right away, she can easily earn MP, and her ability to reflect Debuffs should prove hilarious.

She's not as much a team player imo than regular Mikoto, and I kind of wish that her kit was either more selfish, or more supportive. For example, it's great that she gives the whole team Strengthened Counter now, but since you actually want to use her discs, it feels less useful.

Oh I should have done this earlier, but this is how Uwasa Mikoto stacks up when compared to other units, and this is considering a team with full SE and AE:

Higher than Kimochi Rabi (which shocked me), but under Konoha. Fairly middle ground-- but again, factor in her Variable and you can see how she starts to become a real decent fighter.

Basically, I think she's a decent brawler-type character who is a much more damaging version of her original version. She still functions well as a Tank and really wants to take hits, but her support is more limited than her OG version. Strengthened Counter can outright kill people which is HILARIOUS to watch.

The only other thing I'll say is that if you're getting her to use her, you want ideally 3-4 slots. My two-slot version is fine, but she's getting heavy carries from the rest of the team. Tanks in general suffer from needing as many slots as possible to equip both passives and actives, giving them as many beefy stats as they can.

Lastly, you want to equip her with Damage Cut, especially in mirrors, so she doesn't prevent enemies from attacking her.

[edgelessvoid]

I'm late to this but who cares here's my thoughts on them

further explanations on a lot of the points below the cut (it's really long read at your own risk)

For starters english isn't my first language so if I mix up my terms or words I do apologize.

Also, a lot of my analysis comes from the RL manga mainly, as well as Rhine focus events and op materials such as module lore, voice lines, op rec and op files, if you haven’t read it I get it it’s a lot but I’d highly recommend you at least read the manga to get a better grasp of the context, however I will add the source of any and all screencaps I put here so it’s easier to double check.

Also also I will be skipping points that are unnecessary to explain or that are headcanons that are based purely on vibes, this thing is already long enough.

Age difference: 500+ and 30-40

TLDR Muelsyse is probably centuries old but is very vague about everything concerning her life and past, switching identities every so often to avoid getting herself killed due to her position in the world; Saria is at least 38 by the time Lone Trail happens.

For the longest time that Mumu was talked about (esp. in Dorothy’s Vision) as being old, like centuries old, however in her files it’s stated that she’s in her 30s, here’s my reasoning as to why both make sense at the same time.

(Dorothy’s Vision – DV-4 After)

(Muelsyse’s Operator Files – Archive File 1)

There are many instances of Muelsyse being portrayed as “different” from the rest of the world, and yes it can be directly tied to her being an elf, but I also choose to interpret such “uniqueness” as her having grown such perspectives over exceedingly long times and scarring experiences, when the timeframe is big enough, one’s opinions can differ wildly from the norm.

(Lone Trail – CW-5 Before)

(Lone Trail – CW-ST-4)

And yet for this “uniqueness”, Muelsyse’s file still talks about her life like any other, growing up in an orphanage, graduating college and working. But would it be a wise idea to carry the same identity lifetime after lifetime, for someone who is so susceptible to originium, and being as active in more populated and social areas? No, even keeping herself on the downlow wasn’t enough when Ho’olheyak caught her and very nearly killed her by stuffing originium down her throat.

(Dorothy’s Vision – DV-ST-1)

It would make sense that Muelsyse has to be more cautious with her own identity, as she has chosen to live in a world full of originium and people with less than good intentions, so if asked about her past, she can tell it like it is, only keeping unsaid the fact that these events may have happened multiple lifetimes ago.

(Lone Trail – CW-5 Before)

(Lone Trail – CW-5 Before)

Now for Saria: As far as I have searched there’s no real indicator of Saria’s current age but even a simple assumption that she studied any 4-year major and immediately after went to found RL with Kristen and Muelsyse, she’d be at the very least 38 by the time Lone Trail happens in 1099, as the majority of college graduates are aged around 22 to 24 depending on the major, and Rhine Lab was founded in 1083 by Saria, Kristen and Mueslyse, chances are she’s older if she studied any more than 4 years which isn’t unreasonable.

(Rhine Lab Research Report #1 – Terra Historicus (CN)/Lone Trail (Global release)

Vibe:

Saria, an unmovable mountain that stands tall, a mortal with a grand vision that has risen so much it might as well touch the sky itself. Muelsyse, the flowing ocean upending fleets and crashing violently against rock, all to follow the whims of the moons above, stretching its waves as tall as it can, it could never match the might of the mountain it surrounds, yet it will probably outlive it. And looking far away from them is Kristen, the shimmering sky, so promising, and at the same time unreachable.

Repressed/Open:

Saria is just a repressed calcium brick, both from how she was raised to ignore her feelings and her absorbing those teachings and fueling them into productivity. Mumu is more open in comparison to Saria but she's still reserved about it in general.

No libido/Terminally horny:

Just because Muelsyse is reserved about her sexuality doesn't mean she's not constantly horny for Saria, what else can I tell you other than she's down bad. Saria is initially neutral about the whole deal but becomes progressively hornier for Muelsyse, even more so than her on occasion.

Aggressively romantic/Allergic to PDA:

Muelsyse is a very emotional, affectionate and caring person, but she also understands that Saria is very unaccustomed to PDAs, so she tones it back to a level where both feel comfortable. Saria however is not an emotional person; she’s often perplexed by displays of affection of any kind but does warm up to them with time.

Mentally ill/stable:

Neither is mentally ill, they're just grieving, Saria is a lot more self-destructive about it than Muelsyse though, emotionally stunted calcium brick and all.

KMSing over being in love/Blushing giggling twirling hair:

When they first got together, Muelsyse was a bit more outwardly excited. Both were torn on their feelings for each other as they are still grieving, but Muelsyse has also been yearning for Saria for longer so that dampens the blow (it doesn’t).

Doomed/Blessed by narrative:

Both are doomed by the narrative but. Come on. Mumu is that comfort character that gets put thru every trauma in the universe, I add some extra trauma because she is a long lived and as will probably outlive Saria if the originium doesn’t kill her first. Behold some highlights of Mumu experiencing the horrors in real time:

(Muelsyse’s Operator Files – Archive File 3)

(Expeditioner’s Joklumarkar – Expeditioner Interviews Kin 01)

(Dorothy’s Vision – DV-4 After)

Big/Little spoon:

Saria is usually the big spoon, but Muelsyse also gets to be the big spoon if Saria’s tail allows it.

Weapon/Wielder:

Not so much weapon/wielder dynamic to me so much as it would be combat capabilities, in arts Muelsyse destroys Saria, but in hand-to-hand Saria does break Mumu like a twig.

(Lone Trail – CW-10 Before)

(Dorothy’s Vision – DV-4 After)

The pajamas:

Saria wears old people pajamas, they're comfy and no one uses them to show off so why bother with something flashier. Mumu isn't flashy either but she still retains her sense of fashion even when picking pajamas.

No game/Insane game:

Mumu has mad game but she turns it down very often. Saria has insane game but she's too dense to see it.

Functional/Soggy loser:

Mumu has her shit together, Saria on the other hand, while being a very capable person, is still a certified failwoman; far too stubborn and strict for her own good.

What brings them together?

It's hard to talk about Saria and Muelsyse without talking about Kristen. Saria promised to protect Kristen and her vision.

(Records of Originium: Rhine Lab Manga, ch7 p38/72)

Muelsyse went out of her way to meet Saria and Kristen

(Muelsyse’s Operator Files – Archive File 3)

Muelsyse went on to start Rhine Lab with both of them. Even when talking between the two, Kristen came up in many conversations.

(Lone Trail – CW-10 Before)

And now, Kristen is forever out of reach to the both of them, so what now? Do these memories they had mean nothing without her now? To me, their answers would be no, Saria has fully admitted to being willing to do it all over again; And Muelsyse has expressed how deeply she cares for both Kristen and Saria. They are brought together even more because they’re the only ones who understand just how devastating that loss is to the other. They also play off of each other's energy incredibly well, Mumu’s lighthearted yet slightly distant humor and Saria's deadpan and matter of fact mannerisms elevates their dynamic a lot.

(Records of Originium: Rhine Lab Manga, ch-s1 p2/8)

What kept them apart?

Opposing approaches to the same issue, talking about both Kristen and RL as a whole, Muelsyse tries to improve the situation from the inside for her own personal goals e.g. finding a new world rid of originium; Saria doesn't necessarily try to improve the conditions of RL so much as tries to shield and fix the mistakes that it has made and from the outside, following her own methods to try to make Kristen understand how far she’s strayed from their vision of RL.

(Records of Originium: Rhine Lab Manga, ch8 p88/92)

(Lone Trail – CW-10 Before)

They collaborate on occasion but it’s clear after the Diabolic Crisis that they no longer see eye to eye in a lot of issues and now act very separately.

(Dorothy’s Vision – DV-ST-1)

The meet-cute*:

This one comes with a gigantic asterisk because I'm taking it from the events we explicitly see, it's fair if you think it could've happened far earlier, and it's one of my own hcs, but this is just the one event I feel makes the most sense in canon.

It’s far from the first time they met, but the first time they talk on a deeper level than a coworker relationship, In Lone Trail it’s somewhat alluded to Muelsyse still being slightly outcast from the core in the early days, and as Rhine Lab grew, they all settled into their roles as directors and start to lose touch with one another, only reconnecting a little during Ifrit’s case and after Control has halted their investigation into the Haydn1 lab “accident”, Saria from continues to look into things, with Muelsyse wanting to help out.

(Records of Originium: Rhine Lab Manga, ch6 p42/72)

Skipping forward to ch 8 where the manga switches perspectives back to them, Saria feels dejected because she believes there’s not much else she can do to help Silence and Ifrit, even if she is aware of how much pain Ifrit is in, and how Silence is involving herself in constantly more dangerous territory.

(Records of Originium: Rhine Lab Manga, ch8 p10/92)

Muelsyse can only empathize so much with Saria’s situation, acknowledging that she is mostly looking out for herself, having other options than RL. After that, Saria reminds her that no she doesn’t, so Muelsyse jokingly says she’s only looking to survive.

(Records of Originium: Rhine Lab Manga, ch8 p12/92)

Yes, I do believe she’s joking here, why would she threaten to kill Muelsyse when she has even less evidence against her than Parvis, when Saria hasn’t really commented on doing something similar to him when he is in fact doing something far less funny pretty openly by now.

The reductive tropes

If the last 9 pages worth of word vomit on my end do not convince you that this ship is in fact very appealing, here’s the list of reductive ship dynamics and tropes you can tack on:

Gruff/Dainty, immaculate aesthetic.

Mortal/Long Lived, you can squeeze a lot of angst out of this dynamic.

Also the shit Muelsyse says in Lone Trail, cmon.

(Lone Trail CW-10 Before)

(Lone Trail CW-ST-3)

Fell first/Fell harder:

Mumu fell first, how did she fall for such a loser fr (affectionate). Mumu also fell harder, feeling something after a long ass while of feeling dead inside for centuries? Hard to top that.

Who confessed first?

Mumu is the only one with enough emotional intelligence to carry them through the first years of their relationship, it does get better tho.

The touch segment:

Take it for what you will, it's just the vibes they give me, I added in hair bc I feel like Muelsyse would like it if Saria played with or cared for her hair, Saria is neutral about her own.

Conglaturations you made it to the end :D

[zahri-melitor]

DC Holiday Special 2017 #1 - wouldn't it be nice if DC got back to some sort of consistent naming pattern?

The Reminder - Constantine & Superman. Constantine gets thrown out of a bar for being drunk and dour. Clark doubts Superman can change anything while the barkeeper tells him all the great things Supes has done over the past day. Supes then invites Constantine home to see the family.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas - Batman. OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS A DENNY STORY!!! And wow is it ever a Denny story, we have ghosts and all (where's the Order of St Dumas, Denny, I know you wanted to shove them in too). Storywise, Bruce is tracking down (in a blizzard) a couple who've been kidnapped and held at gunpoint by a man haunted by his dead grandmother, after they both died/almost died in the snow due to the couple, years ago. Bruce stops this.

You Better Think Twice - Green Arrow & Black Canary. Ollie dresses up as Santa ever year for the orphans. Dinah is sceptical that this is helpful. The art direction pretends Sin exists in this story for a page and my heart melts even though that is 100% not Sin.

Not Sin. But Dinah is missing her.

Going Down Easy! - Sgt. Rock. Because what is a Christmas Special if I don't have to read Sgt. Rock stories for some reason.

Amazingly, this is the Hanukkah story for the year! Varying it up. An American Jewish soldier, after being shot, holds on and lives for 8 nights with the German soldier who shot him, until Sgt Rock and his troops arrive. (Then he dies). This is a miracle of faith.

Hope for the Holidays - Flash. Wally just wants to give Barry his Christmas present. Barry gets distracted fighting crime and then taking everyone at the snowed in airport to their destinations. But eventually, he finds time to make it to see Wally in Titans Tower.

A Wilson Family Christmas - Deathstroke.

Aw yeah Adeline's here. Shoot Slade, Adeline! (Tragically she does not even though she threatens to). So is Grant, because we're in a flashback. Anyway Slade is looking for a bomb in a pile of donated presents (and a Santa dies), the rest of the Wilsons come off the road in a carcrash in the snow, Adeline doesn't believe a word Slade says, it's all very them. Also somehow Grant, who was driving, DIDN'T wipe himself out at this point. Survived the teen car accident only to die stupidly fighting the Titans. Way to go kid.

Driver's Seat - Lois & Clark. For some reason this was skipped by the DCUI file. Lois' first car gets totalled in a car accident, which she's broken up about because she wasn't ready to say goodbye. Clark rescues the driver's seat and steering wheel for her, then takes her flying in the seat.

Silent Night - Atomic Knights. I...do not know the Atomic Knights. I vaguely remember something about them in Final Night. It appears to be an alternate timeline?

The community protected by the Knights is worried about the 'Trefoils', a set of walking trees who frankly look like Triffid ripoffs. The village wants to burn them down even though they used to be part of the community. But the Trefoils actually brought a Christmas Tree for everyone! The Spirit of Christmas lives.

Holiday Spirit - Teen Titans. The team fights Three Ghosts similar to those in A Christmas Carol, except the goals of the ghosts is to make everyone depressed by feasting on their memories of Christmas. But Kory doesn't have memories of Christmas (I squint at this and go 'sure, that sounds wrong, haven't you been on Earth for at least 5-6 years now? but I guess we're still untangling timelines')

Then the team make new Christmas memories together.

The Echo of the Abyss - Swamp Thing. Uh. In a future? The space station Archer has been on quarantine for 6 months, with a possible nuclear war on earth. One of the crew gets out some mistletoe to try and cheer people up, then loses it in the face of certain death and decides to kill everyone on the station. Swamp Thing comes out of the mistletoe (somehow using the Green) and ties him up with vines, replenishes their bio chamber gardens, and gives them a Christmas Tree for hope.

Solstice - Wonder Woman and Batman. Oh FUCK YEAH this is an echo story like they usually do for Bruce and Clark. I am INTO THIS. (Also Greg Rucka and Bilquis Evely team!!) Bruce and Diana reminisce on the importance of making a difference and fighting to help people. Then they come together and build a bonfire for the Solstice as Diana cannot of course go home to do it with the other Amazons, as we are in Rucka Rebirth era.

The Silent Night of the Batman - Batman. Reprint of Batman #219, this is great, if you haven't read it yet you should.

Total real Santas? None.

Total times I got irritated by plot points in these stories: you don't want to know.

Times my heart melted: fakeout Sin and the Bruce & Diana story.

[corroded-hellfire]

⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆ ⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆

TO SPREAD SOME HOLIDAY CHEER (AND AN EXCUSE TO ESCAPE YOUR IN-LAWS, OVERBEARING EXTENDED RELATIVES, SIBLINGS, and/or PARENTS)

LETS PLAY A LITTLE GAME

𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞, 𝐭𝐚𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠

thank you my beloved @munson-blurbs for tagging me 🤍

𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭...

𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎: my true favorite is being used somewhere else on this list so I shall go with the runner up. Harrington!reader sticks up for Eddie after Jason calls him a freak

𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜: As You Wish, Part 1 (older!eddie x babysitter!reader)

𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜: St. Patrick’s Day Party

𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎: Top This, I believe. It was Easter and I decided I wanted to post an Eddie Easter fic and bam, somehow it came together very quickly.

𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎: Where the Heart Is, Part 4. My God there was some serious writers block trying to get that one done

𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚜𝚔: my small collection of older!eddie stories that started with this ask about Eddie putting reader into subspace

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛: Steve. He just doesn’t spark my creativity like Munson does

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛: Eddie my beloved

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛: never say never

𝚂𝟻 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜?: tears. Lots of them. Mostly from me. Max will come back, Dustin will be a wreck, Will is gonna open up to Jonathan and/or Mike, hoping for at least an Eddie cameo, and I’m a stancy truther so I’m already planning the wedding

𝚔𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝, 𝚠𝚑𝚢/ 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝?: I think so, but I’m not sure they’ll necessarily call him kas

𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚠𝚑𝚢/𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝?: God yes, please. They’ve both grown so much and are better suited for one another now and I don’t care what anyone says, Steve never stopped loving her.

𝚊 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎: gonna be completely honest and say I have no idea which blogs are considered bigger or smaller ones

𝚊 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚋𝚘 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎: @icallhimjoey is where I always know I can go for inspiration!

𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚖: the first ones I remember reading were by @luveline!

𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚖: @munson-blurbs cuz I’ve had a tumblr crush on her since day one

𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚎: it’s gotta be

𝚐𝚘𝚊𝚕𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛: Completed my first series on here. And in non-fanfic writing I successfully finished the outline for my first two novels!

𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛: 17.5k for Where the Heart Is, Part 5

𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚎: idiots in love

𝚜𝚖𝚞𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚛 𝚏𝚕��𝚏𝚏?: it depends on the mood I’m in

f̾u̾c̾k̾ ̾m̾a̾r̾r̾y̾ ̾k̾i̾l̾l̾

𝚝𝚎𝚍, 𝚖𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚢 𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚛. 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎?: fuck Ted because a certain bff of mine wrote a fic about exactly this and made it hot. Marry Mr. Clarke cause he got that steady paycheck coming in. Kill Murray because I couldn’t not handle that man for long periods of time

𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚌𝚎, 𝚔𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗, 𝚘𝚛 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚊? (𝚍𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗’𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚖): fuck Karen because hello billy had the right idea. Marry Joyce because she’s Joyce frickin Byers and I would do anything for that queen. Kill Claudia I am sorry but at least she shall be with mews

𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚛, 𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚗𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚜𝚘𝚗, 𝚍𝚛. 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛? Fuck Hopper because yes daddy but also I could not live with that man lol. Marry Wayne Munson because DUH he’s Wayne and I would happily be his wife. Kill Dr. Brenner because f u papa

𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚢𝚕𝚎, 𝚓𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗, or 𝚔𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑? Honestly this one is so difficult. Fuck Argyle, marry Jonathan, and kill Keith. I have no explanations for any of these

𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚎, 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚢𝚕𝚎? Fuck Stevie boy. Marry Eddie because he is the love of my life. Kill argyle sorry bruh

𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚝, 𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚐𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚊𝚗, 𝚟𝚎𝚌𝚗𝚊? Fuck a demogorgan cause that seems like an adventure. Marry Vecna because in the words of JQ have you seen Jamie? Kill demobats cause they hurt my Stevie and did unspeakable things to my beloved Edward

no pressure tags: @eddiemunsonsmum @hellfire--cult @joejoequinnquinn @silkholland @wheels-of-despair @ghost-proofbaby @word-wytch @storiesbyrhi

[cherrybombfangirlwrites]

It's Blorbo Blursday! And I arrive with questions! Your blorbos go to the movies, who:

Forgets to turn off their phone?

Has to take out a second mortgage to buy snacks?

Finishes all the snacks during the previews?

Is the Talker (tm)?

Is the one that polishes off two sodas without realizing they're probably going to have to go to the bathroom at some point during the film?

Is the one to sneak into other theaters after their movie ends to catch a free one but shhh don't tell anybody!

Happy Blorbosday! (On STS... it's fine)

I love this question so much and we're doing all three of my main casts because i can <3

FSF

On their phone: Monty and Tris, turn off your damn phones, you dumbasses. Or at least turn the brightness down (they at least did put them on silent). Elliot and Max are reading physical books, like the nerds they are.

Going Bankrupt Buying Snacks: Lan and Raven are buying the snacks. They immedietly regret it. In their defense, Snow and Sapphire are very persuasive, and at least the girls are happy.

Eats all the Snacks before it even starts: Sapphire and Triveya wolfed down all the snacks. and they're still hungry. Sorry. (Triveya uses her magic to steal more, but only a few).

The Talker: Erica and Cassandra are the commentators, and they almost get the group kicked out of the theater because they won't shut up. They also won't stop making goo goo eyes at each other and making out.

Drinks 2 Sodas before it even starts: Sapphire. You know it's Sapphire. Girl got really excited, and the sugar and caffiene were actually helping her calm down (cuz ADHD), but girl, you're gonna be going to the bathroom 5 times during the movie. You better sit next to the aisle at least.

Sneaks Into Other Movies Too: Cass, Erica, Sapphire, and Triveya all sneak into other movies and they drag the others with them as well.

TCIO

On their phone: In Kylee's defense, most of her fidgets are on her phone. Nickelle is also on her phone, both of them at least have the decency to keep the brightness low and put their phones on silent.

Going Bankrupt Buying Snacks: Asher. He realizes he just spent wayyy too much a little too late. And the snacks are already gone and everyone is still hungry. Luckily, Bryson planned for this and has snacks hidden in his jacket. Those snacks last long enough.

Eats all the Snacks before it even starts: V, Kylee, and Chase. And they're still hungry. No they're not sorry.

The Talker: Jason. Bitch will not shut up, and is complaining how he'd rather be at his family's in home theater. By himself. But no, he has to be here for a 'team building exercise'. He also says a lot of rich people things and doesn't understand why the characters in the movie don't just 'hire someone else to do it' or some shit.

Drinks 2 Sodas before it even starts: Chase. And boy won't even have to go to the bathroom until the end. He slams back a whole six pack of energy drinks like he does every night and somehow has a bladder of steel.

Sneaks Into Other Movies Too: V. V is the first one to suggest it, Kylee and Chase quickly follow, Jason ditches, and the others follow as well to keep them from getting kicked out of the theater.

Galaxy Des.

On their phone: Corie, though she has the decency to keep it on silent and the brightness very low, plus it's how she's keeping the kid calm. She doesn't really care about the movie but Hades really wanted to go, so here they are.

Going Bankrupt Buying Snacks: Knox, just to keep everyone quiet. It's fine, they'll find a way to get more money, maybe take another job. Well, it's fine until all the snacks are gone. Then they're all fucked.

Eats all the Snacks before it even starts: Hades. Kid inhaled the snacks before they even got into the theater. Astra smuggled a few snacks in, but those are quickly inhaled by the kid as well. Corie manages to keep him entertained on her phone.

The Talker: Astra and Nova will not shut up. They're either arguing or making out. They almost get the group kicked out.

Drinks 2 Sodas before it even starts: Aries, xier species needs a lot of hydration, but the species also has bladders of steel. Xey won't need to go to the bathroom until the end. Xey also use Xeir squishy and wet skin to entertain the kid.

Sneaks Into Other Movies Too: Hades starts to cry whent he movie is over, so they keep sneaking into other movies until he falls asleep.

[direwombat]

For Syb/Jacob and the OTP/ship asks: 5. Describe their cozy night in. 18. How likely are they to have fur babies? How many and what kind? (v interested in their attitude to the judges 👀) 48. Who’s the better driver?

trying to finish answering the handful of these i have left because whoops they've been sitting in my inbox for a bit (sorry). tysm for sending them in ~ <3

ask meme here

5. Describe their cozy night in.

ahhhhhh they're rare but well deserved moments of relaxation for them, that's for sure. i think their nights in are essentially them retiring to their bedroom (if at their cabin) or jacob's office/their bedroom (if at st. francis) and they just spend their evening listening to vinyl records and reading/cuddling. sometimes they'll have sex, but when they actually have downtime, they're more likely to just hang out and fall asleep together.

18. How likely are they to have fur babies? How many and what kind?

oh man. uh, well, boomer adopts syb as his human, so in katc they'll canonically have at least one. and i do like the idea of jacob having a favorite judge that he trained himself that he'll occasionally treat like a pet when no one else is looking. i haven't found a way to work that into katc but i might work it into the new dawn au sequel fic (if i can finish katc first tho lmao). so. ideally they'll end up with two. boomer and jacob's judge. they both would benefit from service dogs (or. uh...a service wolf) lbr.

48. Who’s the better driver?

on a technical level i think they're both equally competent drivers. HOWEVER. jacob is a little too confident in his driving abilities and tends to drive recklessly (lots of speeding) and bully other drivers. definitely the type of guy who rides your bumper for an uncomfortably long time before cutting you off at the worst possible moment. syb can also be an aggressive driver when she's in a hurry, but overall she's by far the safer driver of the two. you won't be gripping the "dear god" handle if your the passenger and she's behind the wheel.

[brightbeautifulthings]

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair

"'Life is hard out there, Hades, and sometimes living it is penance enough. Mortals need hope, not threats of punishment.'"

Year Read: 2023

Rating: 3/5

Thoughts: Lore Olympus set me on a Greek mythology kick, with emphasis on Hades/Persephone stories. One of the nice things about being a book hoarder is that I had at least two more to choose from just waiting for this mood to strike (and probably more that I've forgotten, let's be real, since I absolutely did not remember buying that copy of Neon Gods-- where did it even come from?). Again, this is by no means a work of great literature, and it's pretty average as far as Greek myths and romance novels go too, but I'm enjoying anything that actually makes me want to read these days. I like the characters and the world, and I like that it doesn't make a lot of mental or emotional demands on me as a reader.

St. Clair's contemporary adaptation is a little darker and sexier than Lore Olympus's, and I like what they both bring to the table. I especially enjoyed the similarity of Hades to a crossroads demon, bargaining with mortals for their souls in order to make them conquer their weaknesses. Persephone doesn't have a lot of personality by comparison, but she has a decent arc over the course of the novel. There aren't a lot of wrenches to throw in that relationship, but there's plenty of banter and smut, as well as some decent attempts at a healthy relationship and communicating through issues.

By comparison, the side characters are a bit lackluster though, and I never felt that invested in the minor dramas with Lexa or Adonis. There are also some pacing issues, which might just be a side effect of a first novel. There are some odd time jumps and random sex scenes like we had to meet a quota in order to be classified as steamy romance. I would have preferred a little more focus on some of the plot issues, which are glossed over very quickly at times. Regardless, this is fun for what it is, and I'll likely pick up the next books on a case by case basis.

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 5/5

Book Blurb: A steamy, opposites-attract romance with undeniable chemistry between a grumpy retired footballer and his fabulous and very sunshine-y ghostwriter.

When grumpy ex-footballer Alfie Harding gets badgered into selling his memoirs, he knows he’s never going to be able to write them. He hates revealing a single thing about himself, is allergic to most emotions, and can’t imagine doing a good job of putting pen to paper.

And so in walks curvy, cheery, cute as heck ghostwriter Mabel Willicker, who knows just how to sunshine and sass her way into getting every little detail out of Alfie. They banter and bicker their way to writing his life story, both of them sure they’ll never be anything other than at odds.

But after their business arrangement is mistaken for a budding romance, the pair have to pretend to be an item for a public who’s ravenous for more of this Cinderella story. Or at least, it feels like it’s pretend—until each slow burn step in their fake relationship sparks a heat neither can control. Now they just have to decide: is this sizzling chemistry just for show? Or something so real it might just give them their fairytale ending?

Review:

When a bubbly ghostwriter is hired to ghost write a grumpy footballer's memoir the last them either of them expects is to fall for each other. Alfie Harding is a retired footballer who is known for being grumpy, intimidating, and being extremely private. Mabel Willicker is a curvy, cheery, and sweet ghost writer who is tasked with helping Alfie complete his memoir. They are polar opposites and bicker and banter every chance they get. Yet the more time they spend together the more they begin to fall for each other... and it doesn't help that the media thinks that they are dating each other. While faking a relationship to keep the media off their backs as they try and complete Alfie's memoir... the pretend is starting to feel very real and the feelings between the both of them is growing. Yet can a relationship work between two opposites who come from different worlds... or are they exactly perfect for each other? This was the cutest rom com ever, Alfie was giving strong Roy Kent vibes (and I absolutely love Roy so so much) and Mabel was such a sassy and funny protagonist. they were both so perfect for each other and i adored their friendship and growing relationship so much. This book was just so sweet and fun and will have you feeling so happy while reading it! I absolutely would recommend this for any fans of a cute and funny rom com with a couple who has so much chemistry!!!

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[violetswritingg]

Thunderstruck

Tyler Owens x OFC!

Description: When cowgirl meets cowboy after a year of no-contact and chaos ensues during storm season!

Rating: M (Mentions of blood and death in Tornadoes and storms alike, angst and loss of loved ones, car accidents, Tornado aftermath, and injury to characters, slight age gap (5 years))

Want to read the other chapters?

Click here

3

May, 2024

Oklahoma

There was something about Oklahoma during storm season, the smell in the air, like the promise death and destruction but wrapped up in the sweet scent of rain. A spring in Tornado Alley was never gonna be a peaceful one and no one knew that better that two groups of people, the people who lived there and the people who were stupid enough to chase the storms.

Riley St. James had unintentionally fallen into the second category. She blamed her genetics. Having someone like Jo Harding and her dad in her life all but guaranteed she would end up here. The rest stop they had decided to stop to gas up at apparently had been a popular choice. Other teams, all varying levels of profession, camped out just waiting for a storm. Some faces she recognized others she didn't. There were a lot more new faces than before, for a multitude of reasons she didn't want to think about.

She was one of them, she had to admit that, her celebrity in the community and among the middle of America was pretty strong. She hated it.

"Hey! Everything okay? What's it looking like out there?" Sarah Mitchell, Riley's research partner and best friend asked, sidling up next to the blonde. "I wish I could see what you see, it's kind of freaky."

"I wish I couldn't." Riley chuckled, "If you want I can give it to ya."

"Nah, it's what makes you, you. I could never take that from ya, love ya too much." Sarah joked as she threw her arm around Riley's shoulder, pulling the girl into her side and off balance. "Besides I don't think anyone would be able to handle just how awesome I would be if I had my brains and your instincts. I would be unstoppable."

"So humble."

"I try to be, it's not easy. I'll tell ya that."

"I bet."

"But really, what's it looking like out there right now?" Sarah sobered up a bit and they both went into work mode. Talking about the cells forming in the west and the lone wolf to the east.

"Look, the one to the east isn't going to produce anything. It's just not. The cap is way too strong. I've seen it happen a million times, you get close, it's about to touch down but there's not enough updraft for it to touch down and it just poofs out of existence. Trust me. Not worth our time."

"So, we go west then."

"You bet'cha." Riley grinned, passing off her tablet to a passing undergrad with a thanks and looking over just in time to see Javi roll up, a blonde woman in his front seat. "I really wish they weren't here. We're gonna be battling it out that's for sure. Why is nothing ever easy?"

"Because then life wouldn't be worth living." Sarah shrugged with a bright grin, looking down at Riley and laughed at the blonde as she groaned and flopped her head onto the slightly taller woman's shoulder.

"But why does it have to be so hard then? Shouldn't there be like an easy mode or somethin'?" Riley kept going and Sarah was more than happy to play along.

"I don't think it works like that unfortunately. Heads up." Sarah stood up straighter and made herself look busy with Dororthy.

"Is that-" A soft voice started, startled as Riley turned and locked eyes with another blonde woman. Her drown doe eyes wide as they locked onto Dorothy.

"Dorothy 6, had her since I was 18, a present from my aunt for my first official chase as an adult." Riley grinned a bit, "I haven't seen you around here, what's your name?"

"Kate. Your aunt?"

"Jo Harding. Riley St. James. Nice to meet you Kate," Riley looked to Javi with a strange look, at least to Kate, "You enjoying your time with Storm Par?"

Kate was taken aback and left reeling.

"I've read all of your papers." Kate blurted, eyes going wide, her cheeks heating up. Looking at Riely like she was some kind of unearthly being. Like Riley was better than her and while Riley had gotten used to the admiration and awe people would usually hold in their eyes this was different. She shifted a bit and rolled her shoulders back.

"Thanks. Did you like them?"

"Most of them were crazy, in a good way," Kate quickly corrected, holding out a hand in front of her palm up to clear the air of any miscommunication, "I mean you must have gotten a couple grants, at least, big ones."

"I did. Thankfully the money hasn't run out just yet, even though it looks worse for wear Dorothy here is a trooper. So is the Warlock."

"I believe it, aren't the doors alone like-"

"800 pounds each, we have to use the hydraulics system to get them open." Riley chuckled, "Thankfully that's never gone out, not yet anyway."

"Don't speak that into existence! Why would you say that?!" Sarah snapped, slapping Riley's shoulder, the blonde feigning injury and laughing when Sarah glared. "Seriously not funny! You think I wanna suffocate int there when the air runs out?"

"Sorry, sorry, I take it back."

"Thank you." Sarah huffed and crossed her arms, looking much younger than her real age at this moment.

"Sorry about her, she used to be a theatre major before meteorology corrupted her." Riley waved her hand and Sarah balked with an offended look and put a hand on her chest.

"I'll have you know, I was a theatre major with a creative writing minor... Get it right, and you call yourself my best friend, for shame." Sarah just shook her head, disappointment painted across every feature until it slips just a bit and she starts to laugh and Riley starts to laugh, but then they both went shock still and stood up straight. Clearing their throats and Kate looked to Javi, the man looking back to her with a winced smile.

"Look Riley, I just wanted to introduce you to Kate, she's the smartest person I know other than you. And I thought you two might hit it off, work well together." Javi explained with a hopeful smile, as if she wasn't here with the Warlock and a small army of underpaid and definitely overworked undergrads who couldn't be happier to be here.

"I already told you no Javi, and if you can't tell, I kind of already have my own team. Can't exactly leave them without their fearless leader. Sarah wouldn't be able to handle all the pressure on her own. They need me." Riley shrugged, as if to say, 'nothing I could do.'

"Yes, yes we do." Sarah agreed, moving shoulder to shoulder with Riley and nodding.

"And the only person I work for Javi, is me." Kate was very confused with the look shared between Javi and Riley that held a thousand words all while giving nothing away.

"What are you working on right now?" Kate blurted out, quickly raising a hand to her mouth and apologizing under her breath. Riley just looked at her with an unreadable look, and Kate started to shift awkwardly.

"Unfortunately I can't tell you that, but keep your eyes peeled." Riley winked and Kate's cheeks turned a shade pinker, knowing how silly she looked. Probably like every other fangirl. It was embarrassing. She had always wanted to meet the Riley St. James, pick her brain, ask her a million questions. She's seen more tornadoes in person than probably anyone else alive right now and lived through an F5. Like her. and kept chasing, kept fighting.

The conversation was interrupted by music blaring.

Ain't no love in Oklahoma....

The red truck made Riley freeze, Sarah shooting her a questioning glance before looking back to the truck, more specifically to the mad standing on the raised ledge of the driver's side door. Leading the group in a very familiar chant.

"What was that?! If ya feel it!"

"Chase it!" The crowd roared back and then cheered when her held up his fist in celebration. Shirts had begun to be sold, other merch items and Riley wanted to smile. But the feeling in her stomach, seeing Tyler be so Tyler. In the year she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him, he had not changed a bit. It was comforting in a way. A constant she didn't know she needed in her life until he wasn't there.

It felt like there was a bull standing on her chest. Watching him smile and autograph literally anything. She had pre-done that, and left two very trustworthy undergrad manning the table where all of that was held. Last she checked they were already sold out of the signed t-shirts she had done.

"Who are they?" Kate asked, leaning into her hip and crossing her arms over her chest. Watching the spectacle in fascination.

"Chasers out of Arkansas." Javi answered while Riley couldn't take her eyes off the blonde man going through the dog and pony show for his audience. He always had been a crowd pleaser. Knew how to work a crowd.

"Hillbillies with a YouTube channel." Sarah scoffed, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"Takes one to know one." Riley smirked, doing her best to fight her demons privately.

"You know if you weren't my best friend and boss, I would so smack you right now." Sarah huffs and Riley's smirk grew into a small grin. One of the few that met her eyes. The dark cloud receding just a bit. "I'm just saying. That whole rig and he doesn't even use it to conduct research. What a waste." Sarah buckled down, tossing an arm in the tornado wrangler's direction. One of the undergrads she had working for her motioned Riley over to Dorothy and she frowned. Laying a hand on Sarah's wrist, looking to Kate and Javi, grin still in place, but it was a little dimmer.

"Okay, it was great to meet you Kate. Javi. If you'll excuse us, we're on the clock." She pulled Sarah with her as Javi called her name. She ignored him and took the tablet from the intern reading the information on the screen and sighing. Looking up at the sky while listening to him explain the readings Dorothy was giving were a little weird and they should probably look at the software.

"Sarah, that's you. Grab Isaac and John, work it out in the next fifteen minutes." Her eyes stayed transfixed where they were as she handed the tablet to Sarah, "We've gotta get moving. Daniel last check on the barrels, don't make it obvious, you know the drill. And tell Jenney she needs to do the final checks in the van before we head out."

"You got it boss." Daniel nodded and took off. Riley sighed and laid a hand on Dorothy.

"Don't give up on me yet girl. Just a couple more, and then we can retire you. I promise."

"I thought I told you just because you talk to it like it's real doesn't mean it is." Sarah looked up from the tablet slightly. Looking at Riley through her lashes before focusing on the numbers on the screen again.

Riley licked her lips before clicking her tongue, "And I thought I told you to go get Isaac and John to crunch the number and figure out what was wrong with our lovely Dorothy here. Don't worry Dorothy, Sarah is gonna go work with the very smart undergrads we have with us and make you all better, okay?" Riley baby talked the piece of technology before looking to Sarah with feign innocence. Batting her eyelashes behind her aviators, Sarah couldn't see it because of how dark the lenses were, but she knew, "We're running out of time, tick tock."

Sarah just chuckled and shook her head, doing as told but before fully leaving. She turned over her shoulder and whisper-shouted, "You know if I weren't mad at you right now, I would warn you about the hunky cowboy storm chaser coming over here right now like a man on a mission. But I am, so I won't." With that she turns on her heel and all but sprints to the van that held all their monitors and receivers. Being constantly monitored by three of the undergrads.

Riley doesn't need to look back to hear the click of his boots, the same ones he's worn since she got them for him on their six-month anniversary. The slight jingle of the spurs giving them away. She wasn't dealing with this right now. She looked around, purposefully not in Tyler's approaching position, looking for an escape. Seeing Kate standing off to the side, watching the woman crouch down to pick a dandelion.

Riley's head tilted to the side and a soft grin came across her lips as she took off.

"Rile-" Tyler's voice was taken by the wind as she was too far by the time he got to where she used to be.

"My dad taught me to do that. All the tech is nice but uh, sometimes the old ways are just better ya know?" Riley shrugged, the older woman still looking at her like she was a god among men. She would take the ego boost, but it was a little much. "Compare wind direction versus cloud movement. Get a feel for the sheer. Where are you from?"

"New York."

Riley took in her answer for a second, pulled down her aviators to the tip of her nose and looked at Kate up and down. The older woman shocked to see startingly blue eyes, brighter blue than what she thought was natural.

"New York, huh? Long way from home." Riley pulled her glasses back up and crossed her arms over her chest. Settling into her hip.

"Yep." Kate was internally screaming, telling herself to say anything, something intelligent maybe? Hopefully.

"What do you see?" Riley nodded to the sky. The darker blonde taking a couple steps forward, leaving Kate to watch her back. White, high collared tank top giving way to toned arms and shoulders hit heavy with sun. Stray hairs curling at the nape of her neck out of her ponytail, the tied-up strands getting shifted by the wind. Kate swallowed hard and took a breath before meeting Riley where she was at.

"Two cells in the west. One in the East which on radar has better numbers and has the sky all to herself and good shear. Plenty of instability." Kate held her breath, looking at Riley out of the corner of her eye, waiting.

"Nice. I saw that too, but..." Riley lolled her head to the side before turning to look to Kate, hands on her hips.

"Cap is way-"

"-Too strong. I agree." Riley finished and smirked when Kate smiled at her. A light shining way back there in the depth. "You're good." The veteran chaser whistled, laughing when Kate looked down at her feet, rocking back on her heels. "What made you stop?"

Kate's head snapped up and she froze.

"You avoiding me Riley? I'll admit, that kinda hurt my feelings." Riley, on instinct turned around. Big mistake. Tyler Owens was right there in front of her, seston hat her dad had gotten him for a birthday of his, anniversary boots, million-watt smile as he squinted in the sun down at her. 

~~*~~

A/N: Hello! I wanted to give you guys some chapters to read with this one, I know it's still in theaters and I have now seen it three times, will probably need to see it another three to finish what I have planned for this bad boy. SO, hold your caps, it's gonna be a wild ride. 

And I will get the chapters out as quickly as I can, I promise! (I wish I could put like a thumbs up emoji here - but I can't it lowkey makes me sad) 

[chenziee]

The Scars we carry

@lawluevents - Day 5: Nakama/Healing @onepiece-bingo: Healing/Paradise

Alternate summary: "I'm going to kill all my friends if they don't shut the fuck up (affectionate)" - Trafalgar D. Water Law, 2023

I barely grazed the Paradise prompt from the OP Bingo here ㅠ_ㅠ I planned to make it more about their time in Paradise but Law said "no <3" :(

Also fun fact, I was already done with this fic by the time I realised the "healing" prompt overlapped between lawlu week and my bingo card

[ Read on AO3 | series ]

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Straw Hat Luffy had many scars. Small cuts and burns, some old and some fresh, most of them caused by fighting and training.

But, none of them was as big or as impactful as the one on his chest.

Whenever Law saw it, it reminded him of the war three years ago, the war that shook not only the final area of Paradise where it took place, but also the entire world—and he was sure it reminded Luffy of that time as well. 

Law wasn’t there when he got the scar. He wasn’t there when Luffy lost his brother… But he did see what it led to. He saw Luffy at the brink of death, one breadth away from complete destruction—both physical and mental—and he saw the blind destruction the pain caused. Hell, the Tang herself got a few scars as a result and Luffy should be glad Law didn’t demand he pay for all the expensive equipment he had destroyed.

Law was sure Nami would murder her captain if he presented her with the bill.

But… it honestly never even occurred to Law to ask for money. For one, he knew why Luffy had done it, he understood why he went on a rampage, and he only regretted that he didn’t know how to help. He was grateful Jinbe was there to do it for him, to remind Luffy that he still had his crew—people he loved, people who loved him.

 And two, it Law’s his own decision, his own call to go to the war to save him in the first place.

To this day, Law wasn’t entirely sure what had compelled him to go.

Was it really just because of the D. in his name? Because the way he punched St Charlos in the face without a second thought was funny? Because Law enjoyed fighting with him?

Or was it because, unconsciously, Law knew Luffy was the only one who could break the chain Doflamingo had on him and with it, the chain-shaped soulmark on his arm?

Law didn’t know.

And he was glad his crew never really dug into his reasoning. He loved them and all but he would rather kill them all than admit that maybe, just maybe… he simply couldn’t bear letting the kid die.

The knowing look Ikkaku kept giving him during the two weeks of Straw Hat’s treatment was bad enough.

A soft knock on the door to the Captain’s cabin made Law look up, snapping back to reality.

“Come in,” he called out quietly as to not disturb the person sleeping soundly next to him.

A second later, the door slowly opened and Ikkaku came to view, her eyes glued to the papers in her hands. “Captain, we did an inventory check in the engine room and such and we’ve—” she paused suddenly as she looked up, blinking a few times as she took in the sight in front of her.

Law already felt a headache coming before she even said anything.

“You two are so cute,” she said then, biting on her bottom lip and obviously struggling very hard not to start laughing.

Law sighed deeply. He knew she would say that; she always did whenever she stumbled on Law and Luffy spending time together—be it Straw Hat bothering the shit out of Law while he tried to study, Law doing experiments with Straw Hat’s insane metabolism, or right now, when Luffy was sleeping sprawled over Law’s bad like it belonged to him, completely ignoring Law’s personal space and having his limbs thrown all over the place, including Law’s own body.

At least Ikkaku wasn’t as obnoxious about it as Penguin and Shachi always were, although Law had no idea what was so ‘cute’ about this. If anything, Straw Hat needed to wipe the fucking drool off his face because that was disgusting.

“What did you say about the inventory check?” Law asked instead of gracing her comment with a reply.

“Oh right. We’ve got to restock soon, we’re running low on gas and components and some equipment is getting really old and basically useless. I have a list here if you want to check.” She gestured with the papers in her hands in Law’s direction.

Shaking his head, Law declined, “It’s fine. You’re the head mechanic, I trust you did the job right.”

“You just know you wouldn’t know what anything on the list is either way,” Ikkaku said cheekily.

“Straw Hat-ya’s crew’s a terrible influence on you guys,” Law groaned before narrowing his eyes at her. “I’m going to demote you for insubordination.”

“Sure you will.” Ikkaku rolled her eyes, her gaze jumping between Law and Straw Hat, who still snoring away, blissfully unaware of the exchange going on. “Also aren’t we pretty much the same crew at this point?” she finished with a raised eyebrow.

Law wanted to refute her, to tell her she was being ridiculous… but to be perfectly honest, he couldn’t in good conscience disagree with her. They had been spending an unhealthy amount of time with the Straw Hats, considering the alliance officially ended months ago.

“But you know…” Ikkaku said then, her voice much more serious and quiet. “Every time Straw Hat’s here, it reminds me of the war. It’s a miracle he’s so healthy now. Watching him, it’s as if nothing happened.”

Law huffed, his own eyes turning down to look at Luffy’s peaceful expression. For sure, at first glance it seemed that way; but the scar on his chest was there to remind them all… as were the nightmares Law knew Luffy still suffered once in a while. Luffy never talked about them, never even said anything about having them in the first place, and Law didn’t pry—even if he did, he knew Luffy still wouldn’t say anything, claiming it was ‘all in the past anyway’—but he knew the ghosts were there, always lurking in the back of Luffy’s mind to haunt him, to remind him of what he had lost.

And that was okay. It was all a part of the process, the bumps on the road to healing.

At least, that was how Law thought of his own nightmares of Flevance and Minion Island.

“Captain?” Ikkaku asked uncertainly when Law didn’t say anything for a long while.

The corners of Law’s mouth twitched. Yeah, having a good crew, good friends, certainly helped smoothing out the road. He was lucky in that regard—just as Straw Hat was.

“I’m fine,” he said, turning back to look at his head mechanic. “I’ll talk to Bepo about where we can stop to get those supplies.” 

A grin spread on Ikkaku’s lips in response before she turned around to leave. “Thanks! I’ll let you two be adorable in peace now.”

“Fucking—” Law growled, taking a deep breath… but before he could snap at her so shut up, she was gone, the door closed carefully behind her.

Rubbing at his temples, Law thought to himself; he did love his crew to death but sometimes… Sometimes, he wanted nothing more than to maim them.

[wowbright]

Fic: Ovaltine and Hot Chocolate

Klaine Advent 2022: oval & type (days 5 & 6)

Words: ~750 words

Rating: Teen and Up

Summary: Blaine tries to get things back to normal.

I’m back with more vignettes from my Mormon!Klaine universe for Klaine Advent 2022! This vignette takes place just after Bloom.

My Mormon!Klaine Masterpost.

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When Blaine and Elder Nixon got to breakfast, Elder St. James had two seats reserved for them at his table with Kurt, Elder Flanagan, and various and sundry other missionaries. “I saved you seats so we can talk about our pyramid strategy,” he stage-whispered as they approached.

“Whispering only works to keep secrets if you do it quietly, Elder St. James.” Kurt rolled his eyes from across the table.

Blaine took a deep breath. He could do this. He could have breakfast with Kurt. He'd done it at least fifty times already. He could do it again.

Yes, it would be hard to ignore the light and bubbly feeling inside his chest, but if Blaine really thought about it, he’d always had that feeling around Kurt, hadn't he?

The thing that made it distracting now was that Blaine understood what it meant. That, and the anxiety over how Kurt would react if he found out—angry, possibly; and disappointed, definitely, that Blaine had failed to achieve the simple task of keeping his heart locked for the duration of his mission.

Blaine needed to preoccupy himself with something else. “Elder Nixon, I saw some Ovaltine over by the hot chocolate. Why don’t I mix us up some?” That had been part of the mission president’s advice for helping Elder Nixon withdraw from his espresso bean habit: sugar, chocolate, and Ovaltine. Prayer and scripture reading, too, of course, but you could eat those things for breakfast.  “Anyone else?”

Kurt made an expression like Blaine had just sprouted horns on each side of his head. “I only like hot chocolate made with real chocolate. Not this powdered stuff.”

Elder St. James smiled fondly. “Our Elder Hummel is such a gourmet, isn't he? I wish I was as classy as him. But I'm not, so you can bring me some, Elder Anderson.”

Blaine felt a pang of something like jealousy at Elder St. James's use of the word “our,” but he pushed it away.

After two Ovaltine hot chocolates and three pieces of toast, Blaine felt a little steadier. Kurt didn't seem to notice any change in him, and Blaine realized that he probably never would. Because the more Blaine thought about it, the more he was convinced he'd fallen for Kurt a long time ago. But he hadn’t noticed, and Kurt hadn't, either. So there was no risk in Kurt figuring it out now, as long as Blaine kept his mouth shut.

“It's not that complicated, Elder St. James,” Kurt said, pushing away his empty plate. “The heaviest, strongest people are on the bottom, the lighter people are on the top.”

“But we have to account for clumsiness, too,” Elder St. James insisted.

“Well, we could do that if we were holding auditions, but this is a team building exercise at a mission conference, so I think we're stuck with whatever we've got,” Kurt said. “Besides, clumsiness can be unlearned. I was super clumsy through most of high school, but being on the cheerleading team and incessantly building human pyramids helped me gain a little more grace.”

“You were clumsy?” Blaine said. He'd also been surprised about the cheerleading part, but he could only ask one question at a time.

Kurt arched an eyebrow. Blaine felt a familiar tingling in his groin and knew exactly why. “I'm still clumsy. I just fake that I'm not. You haven't noticed?”

Blaine shook his head. “Also, how have we not talked about cheerleading? I was a cheerleader too.”

“Really?”

“Tina roped me into joining with her.”

“Tina’s a cheerleader?” Both of Kurt’s eyebrows were up now. “I didn't think she was the type. Being goth and all.”

“She was—is—going through a bit of an identity crisis. She’s goth, she’s mod, she’s a little bit of everything. She says she's in a constant process of self-discovery.”

“Who's Tina?” Elder Nixon piped in.

“Elder Anderson's best friend back home,” Kurt said.

“Wait. Your best friend's a girl?” asked Elder Flanagan. “How does that work?”

Blaine furrowed his brows. He'd always assumed it was because he'd known Tina too long to think of her as anything but a sister. But now, he wondered if there was more to it. “I don't know. It just does.”

“She's not a Mormon,” Kurt offered. “Elder Anderson is too pure and strong in the gospel to fall for a gentile.”

It took all of Blaine’s concentration not to choke on the little piece of donut he had just started to swallow. Pure, my sock.