#i haven't made anything ~graphic in a long long long time and i wasn't good at it before lol so i'm trying my hand at it again! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

perotovar · 3 months ago

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bloody kisses — can't lose you

pairing: shane morrissey x tim rockford rating: E (18+) mdni word count: 2.6k content: vaguely takes place in the 00s, age gap (shane is 23, tim is 40), internalized homophobia, top!shane, bottom!tim, prone bone, missionary, ass eating, hand jobs, f e e l i n g s, lmk if i missed anything else! dividers: @/saradika-graphics beta: @chronically-ghosted (ily ily ily ily)

summary: shane is staying over at tim's and things are going normally... or are they?

a/n: this is my incredibly, shamefully late submission for @wannab-urs 's DMAMC. i can't even begin to apologize for how long this took me but i hope you like it all the same!

series masterlist

Tim grunted into Shane's mouth, a large hand squeezing the younger man's ass through his pajama bottoms.

Shane visited on Tim's days off, but it's been a while. Tim had a case to take care of and now they haven't seen each other in just over two weeks.

They're a little… desperate.

"Fuck," Shane moaned into Tim's mouth, biting the older man's bottom lip and tugging. He was seated comfortably in Tim's lap, grinding his dick against Tim's. The apartment was quiet save for the sound of the clock ticking and their heavy breathing.

Tim grinned against Shane's lips, kissing along his prominent jawline and down his neck. He sucked on the collarbone there as he squeezed and pulled Shane's ass cheeks apart lewdly. Shane shivered at the feeling, his cock twitching behind the thin fabric of the pajamas.

"Can… Can I take my shirt off?" Shane panted, pulling his head back a little. Technically the shirt was Tim's (and so were the pajama pants), but he had basically stolen them at this point. They were a size too big and hung off his thin frame in a way that made Tim's head spin.

"'Course, sweetheart," Tim breathed, a smile creeping onto his face. He watched as the boy carefully tugged the shirt off and tossed it on the floor of Tim's bedroom. "Gorgeous," he sighed, eyes darkening just a little as the sight of Shane's pale, tattooed skin shone in the moonlight coming in through the window.

Shane groaned and looked away for a second. He still had a hard time accepting things like that from Tim. He knew he should be used to it by now, it's been five months since they first hooked up, but it was just… hard. Tim was so different than other people he'd seen, had relationships with.

Well, there really wasn't a name on what they had. Not yet, anyway.

"None of that," Tim chuckled, gripping Shane's chin with his thumb and forefinger and forcing him to look Tim in the eye. "You doin' okay, kid?"

Shane huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes before grinding his dick into Tim's again. "Obviously."

Tim groaned in pleasure, but gave Shane a hard look. "Hey, I'm bein' serious. If you don't wanna—"

"I want to, Tim," Shane frowned, tugging on Tim's tank top. He'd only gotten as far as getting down to his undershirt and slacks before Shane had pounced on him.

"Good," Tim smiled and leaned forward to give the boy a soft, lazy kiss as he held his face. Shane would never admit it, but he got butterflies every time Tim did that.

"Wanna try something a little different tonight, if you're okay with that?" Added Tim, hands comfortably holding Shane's thighs.

Shane blinked. "What kind of different? You're not… Bored, are you?" He asked, his breathing picking up slightly.

"No, not at all, sweetheart," Tim frowned, cupping Shane's face in both hands. "I just wanted something. Just communicating with you, honey."

"Oh," Shane blushed, embarrassment dripping out of every pore. Their difference in age always slapped him in the face in moments like this. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Tim said softly, pecking the tip of Shane's nose. "You wanna look at me with those pretty eyes?"

Shane rolled his eyes again, but smiled shyly and looked up at him anyway.

"Atta boy," Tim grinned. "Want you to fuck me."

It took a second for Shane's brain to catch up with him, and when it did, his face turned beet red. "You… You what?"

Tim chuckled softly before repeating himself slowly. "Want you," he paused, a hand cupping Shane's dick through the pajama pants. "To fuck me," he whispered, squeezing for emphasis.

Shane moaned, his dick twitching in Tim's larger hand. "B-but, why? Aren't you supposed to—?"

Tim raised a brow. "Supposed to what? Do the fucking? Sweetheart…" He sighed.

"I-I just—! I thought, well," Shane stammered, fighting for the right words.

"If you don't want to, you don't have to, honey," Tim said gently.

"It's not that! I just… I didn't think you'd… want that?" Shane exhaled, cheeks pink.

That smile creeped its way back onto Tim's face. "Why wouldn't I?"

Shane blinked, not making eye contact again. "I-I dunno, I mean—"

"Why do you like it?"

Shane froze, face turning pinker by the second. He only ever felt like he was under a microscope when it was with Tim. And with Tim was the only time he didn't fucking hate it. "Well—"

"Because it feels good, right?" Tim grinned, pulling Shane closer so he could hug him close.

Shane nodded silently.

"Exactly. Remember what I said about roles?"

"Yeah," Shane sighed. "Sorry, I'm trying."

"I know you are, sweetheart. It'll take some time. Now," he grinned, cupping Shane's face and kissing him deeply. "You know where the lube is."

This was something Shane was a little more familiar with, if he were being honest. Usually the one on the receiving end was someone about half of Tim's size and didn't have a dick, but, well, Shane wasn't complaining. Especially not with the view in front of him.

Tim laid on his stomach, one leg hiked up and bent at the knee. He'd gotten undressed and now his bare ass was on display for Shane's viewing pleasure, his balls peaking out from underneath him.

"Jesus Christ, Tim," Shane groaned, ring-clad fingers curiously rubbing and massaging Tim's cheeks. Tim had substantially more body hair than Shane did and it felt downright erotic underneath Shane's hands.

Tim hummed low in his chest at the feeling and poked his ass out a little more. It had been a long time since another person did this to him and he was so excited it made him worry he'd spend himself too soon. His cock twitched underneath him, constricted by the bed sheets.

"Fuck, do you— God, can I eat your ass, Tim?" Shane's eyes were glued to Tim's hole, nestled between the furred cheeks he'd spread.

Tim groaned, biting the pillow he was cuddling. "Fucking— yes, kid, please."

Shane didn't need to be told twice, spitting lewdly onto the puckered skin before devouring him. He moaned as his tongue pierced into Tim's innermost depths, squeezing Tim's ass in both hands.

Tim gasped in pleasure, burying his face into the pillow to calm himself down. Shane's tongue always brought him to his knees when he sucked Tim's cock, but this was something completely different. The cold rings on Shane's fingers felt like ice against his heated skin and kept him grounded as Shane made him melt.

Shane lifted his head away to catch his breath, eyes shut in bliss as he kissed along Tim's ass and lower back. "Fuck, old man," he giggled, feeling a little drunk. "Why didn't we do this sooner, huh?"

Perspiration dotted Tim's hairline and his breathing was uneven when he tried turning back to look at the boy. "Just— Get inside me, wouldja?" He chuckled, out of breath.

Shane grinned and slapped Tim's ass, knee-walking his way closer. Carefully, he rolled the condom down his dick before tapping the head against Tim's hole teasingly.

Then, finally, Shane slowly pressed the head of his cock inside him, the tightness making the air leave his lungs. "Shit," he gasped. "You're—"

Tim grunted, leaning on his elbows as his head hung low between his shoulders. His hips were still pressed to the bed sheets and he could feel the precome building underneath him. "C'mon," he panted.

"Yeah, yeah," Shane breathed. His knees were on either side of Tim's leg, the one that wasn't hiked up and bent, and it made getting deeper inside a lot easier. Before either of them knew it, he was buried to the hilt inside Tim and it made them both groan in pleasure.

Shane's hands gripped onto Tim's hips as they caught their breath. "Ready?" He breathed, looking at the back of Tim's head. He couldn't believe this was happening right now.

Tim nodded slowly before turning his head again. "F-fuck me." His voice sounded wrecked already.

So Shane did.

Starting off carefully, Shane slowly built to a steady pace, fucking into Tim with abandon. Skin slapping against skin, Tim's low grunts and moans, the sounds in the room were downright filthy. Shane's eyes were glued on where they were connected, Tim's hole stretched around him obscenely, the lewd way his cheeks would ripple with every thrust.

For the first time since they really started… whatever this was, Shane's mind was blissfully empty of any doubt. Any insecurity he may have about whatever "role" he played in their dynamic was gone. All he felt was pleasure and connection. He felt closer to Tim than he ever had with anyone else.

Tim trusted him to do this. He was being vulnerable with Shane, breaking down his walls to let him in; literally and figuratively.

A weak moan and Tim's body tensing pulled him out of his thoughts. "What's wrong?" Shane asked, voice full of concern, but noticeably out of breath.

Tim breathed heavily and turned his head back. "Pull out for a sec," he panted. Shane complied and slowly removed himself from Tim's body. Twin moans pierced the air before Tim motioned for Shane to come closer as he turned to lie on his back. He lifted one muscled leg and rested it over one of Shane's shoulders then sighed in relief, a blissed out smile on his face. "Tha's better," he hummed drunkenly. "C'mon, sweetheart. Back to it," he winked.

Shane's heart was racing as his smile stretched from ear to ear. He looked down between them, gripping his cock in his hand and slowly pushed back inside. They moaned together again, the further Shane pushed inside, the more Tim's body seemed to bend thanks to the leg on his shoulder.

Shane held himself up, one hand on Tim's hip and the other curling into the sheets. Once he was fully sheathed inside, he looked up into the older man's eyes and melted. He looked so at peace.

Before either of them realized, their bodies were rocking together rhythmically. Tim got really affectionate when he bottomed, it seemed, because he kept grabbing for Shane's face and hair, curling his fingers into the inky black strands. He kept kissing at any bit of Shane's skin that he could, moaning openly against the sweaty surface.

"Kid, I'm—" Tim gasped, curling his other leg around Shane's thin waist.

Shane nodded, understanding what he was saying. "Touch yourself for me. Lemme see," he panted, speeding up the pace of his hips a little.

Tim groaned, but did as he was told, curling his fingers around his cock and started pumping in time with Shane's thrusts.

Shane couldn't take his eyes off him, the sight of this gorgeous older man being an absolute wreck underneath him was breathtaking. His normally put-together hair had started to curl and stick to his sweaty forehead, the deep creases in his forehead were pinched together in pleasure, and his plump lips were parted obscenely, vocally letting Shane know that he felt good. Shane was making him feel good.

"Sh-Shane!" Tim gasped, his hand speeding up before he stilled, his back arching off the bed and his torso was painted white. He groaned, voice hoarse, and squeezed down around Shane's cock, trembling underneath him with his release.

Shane went lightheaded at the sight and the sound of his name on those lips and he was done for. He moaned weakly as he fucked into Tim one, two, three more times before spilling inside the condom in thick spurts. His head hung low as he caught his breath, one hand squeezed around Tim's thigh, nails dug into the flesh. The other hand was dug into Tim's hip.

Opening his eyes, Shane was greeted with the sight of Tim's eyes closed, those brows no longer pinched, and his chest rhythmically rising and falling as he, too, caught his breath. He looked beautiful.

"Tim?" He asked quietly, afraid to break the spell.

"Hm?"

Shane chuckled. Tim sounded like a bear when he grunted like that. "D'you want me to, uh…" He said, slowly pulling out, but not completely.

Tim exhaled, like it was the last thing he wanted, but nodded anyway. "Yeah," he hummed.

Once Shane had removed himself and carefully laid Tim's leg down to rest, he crawled on top of Tim's broad torso. He was reminded of all the times Tim had taken care of him after and leaned over to lazily kiss Tim's lips. He crawled out of the bed, removed and disposed of the condom, and quietly left the room. He came back a moment later with a glass of water and the sight of a smiling Tim watching his naked form.

"Such a gentleman," Tim teased.

Shane rolled his eyes and handed him the glass. "Yeah, yeah, don't get used to it."

"'Course," he chuckled, taking a swig.

Crawling back into the bed, they cuddled close underneath the covers, Shane's head resting on Tim's chest. They settled back into what worked for them easily.

"That was…" Shane started, trying to find the right words. Tim had half a second to panic, like he was worried he'd pushed the kid too far, or he wasn't interested in him like that, before those big deep brown eyes were looking at him like he'd hung the moon. "Amazing. Probably one of my favorite nights with you," Shane grinned.

Tim visibly relaxed, a small smile growing on his own lips. "Me too," he sighed, cupping Shane's face to kiss him, unhurried. They stayed that way for a moment, just relishing in each other, but eventually had to come up for air. "Was worried you'd… I dunno, not like… me, like that," Tim shrugged.

Shane blinked, his own brows pinched slightly. "What? No, I," he paused. "I loved it." It was one of the most earnest things he'd ever said to the older man. He meant it, but he didn't feel afraid to say it, it was… strange.

Tim huffed a shocked laugh, looking at Shane incredulously. "Who are you and what have you done with Shane Morrissey?"

Shane giggled and lightly smacked Tim's chest. "I mean it!"

"I know," Tim chuckled. Quiet settled over them comfortably as they took each other in, basking in their afterglow.

A thought came to Shane's mind. He didn't want to fight it.

"What do… What do you think of… this?" He said softly, eyes glued to the hair on Tim's chest, playing with it a little.

Tim had rested his head back down on the pillow and hummed in thought. "I think a lot of things. What do you mean, sweetheart?"

Shane bit his lip. "Like… When you call me to come over, what does it mean to you? Is it just… Casual?"

Tim looked down at the crown of inky black locks. What was he asking him right now? "I… don't think it is, no," he said cautiously. "How do you feel about it?"

Shane moved his head to rest his chin on Tim's chest. "Possessive," he answered honestly. "I… I don't want to share you. I don't want you to be with anyone else," he said, voice calm as he slowly made eye contact again. Tim didn't see any of that mask he'd seen in the interrogation room countless times, or the wall he'd built up for who knows how many years. He saw Shane for the first time, completely unfiltered.

"Sweetheart…" Tim exhaled, shocked beyond belief. "Are you… Are you asking me to go steady? Be exclusive?"

"Yes," Shane nodded. "I want to… be yours. And you be mine."

Tim grabbed his face with such force that Shane whimpered into Tim's mouth when their lips connected. Tim kissed him fervently, afraid that the boy would disappear if he let go. Once they parted, he pressed their foreheads together. "Are you sure?" He asked, his doubts about their age difference, a full seventeen years apart, at the forefront of his mind.

Shane pinched Tim's nipple, making the older man yelp in response.

"Okay," Tim chuckled, rubbing his nipple protectively. "I accept, kid."

#tim rockford #tim rockford fanfiction #tim rockford fic #tim rockford smut #tim rockford series #dio morrissey #shane dio morrissey #dio morrissey fanfiction #shane dio morrissey fanfiction #shane morrissey #shane morrissey fanfiction #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal cinematic universe #pedro pascal character fanfiction #oaksfics

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scariusaquarius · 2 months ago

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rehab. 16.

Avenger! Bucky Barnes x Winter Soldier! Fem! Reader

Summary: While on a mission to find any more possible super soldiers that were a part of the Winter Soldier program, Steve and Bucky make a discovery in an abandoned HYDRA base that was cleared out a few years prior to their mission. They discover the Reader, a long-forgotten soldier that was still asleep within a functioning cryostasis pod; still awaiting orders. While Bucky isn't happy about it, he is put up to the challenge of helping to rehabilitate the soldier in Wakanda where she may be able to become a person again.

A/n: SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. Shit got real for me. I'm going back to college!! It's been a bit of a ride since my acceptance and enrollment, so I haven't had a lot of time to write. But i promise i'm back and comin in swinging!! Now we're gonna get into Nat's part of the big mission, and then we'll be back to Bucky and our soldier <3 Also, if you enjoy my work, please consider buying me a coffee! If you would prefer to read Rehab on Archive, you may do so right HERE!

This is an au where Bucky joined the avengers but still rehabilitated in Wakanda (sometime before Infinity War [canon divergent cause NOPE]). I am NOT fluent in Russian, so I did use google translate cause I couldn't find a good translator that I trusted. If anything is wrong, PLEASE let me know!! Also, I tried to list as many warnings as possible so you know what the story will contain as chapters are posted. Stay safe!

Genre: Slowburn, Enemies to Lovers/Friends to Lovers, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Humor, Drama, Dark Content Rated: Explicit Warning: Angst, Dark Content: Graphic Depictions of Sexual Assault, Blood and Gore, Mentions of Manipulation, Kidnapping, Canon-Typical Violence, Body Horror, Nonconsensual Body Modification/Scarring, Emotional and Physical Abuse, Mentions of Murder, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts/Ideation, Graphic Depictions of Human Remains, Mentions of Sexual Coercion/Manipulation, Death, Misuse of Drugs/Forced Drugging, Self-Harm (Graphic Depictions and Mentions), Nightmares

Author: ScariusAquarius

rehab masterlist. chapter 14 / chapter 15

The Swiss Alps were much colder than the assassin had been expecting. While Natasha Romanova knew the terrain almost like the back of her hand, it was unusually cold for the early morning. The watch on her wrist was reading 4:38am, and though is was typical for a November morning to be cold, Natasha could feel the weather permeating through her body.

No matter how much the Red Room had tried to condition her body for any climate, Natasha always hated the cold the most. Rubbing her gloved hands together, Natasha watched as her breath materialized in front of her as she breathed out, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Clint, you almost done back there?"

The sound of leaves crunching made Natasha turn, and Clint gave her an annoyed expression as he came out from behind a large tree, shaking his shoulders.

"You try taking a piss in the dead cold. It's not fun."

Wanda made a noise of disgust, shaking her head with vigor as she begged.

"Please, never think so loudly again."

Natasha chuckled, and Clint just rolled his eyes before giving Wanda a firm look as she stated, her eyes glowing red and fingertips twitching slightly.

"I do not sense anybody within the building. It is...empty."

"That's either a really good thing or a really bad thing."

Clint muttered, and Natasha frowned deeply to herself, the gears in her head turning.

"If Rollins isn't here...he wasn't in Germany like he was supposed to be...just where would a rat hide?"

Wanda shrugged and answered with a slight look of unsureness.

"If I were a rat, I would hide where nobody would think to look...and that has plenty of resources for me to use."

Clint hummed, rubbing his chin as he looked up at the brightening sky.

"I mean, it's a stretch...but what if he's hiding out with the CIA?"

Natasha huffed, shaking her head.

"I knew I should have went anyway. Let's just check this building to see if there's any valuable information and destroy the place once we're done."

Clint immediately took out his bow and gestured his arm out.

"After you, miladies."

"Really? I think you should go first."

Clint gave Natasha a glare while Wanda chuckled and shook her head.

"You two fight like a married couple."

"We would have killed each other a lot sooner."

Clint rolled his eyes before he leapt down the side of the hill that was sitting right next to the HYDRA base, his voice carrying through the air.

"I'm leaving now!"

Wanda and Natasha both shared a look, and Wanda carefully levitated the two of them down the hill, leaving Clint to fall behind as they both landed gracefully on the ground. While Clint grumbled to himself as he saved himself from tripping, Wanda was squinting slightly, asking Natasha as the woman used a pair of binoculars to get a closer look of the outside of the building.

"So, why not ask for my assistance in finding out who this woman was? I could have easily looked through her memories...even the ones that were locked away."

Natasha hummed, shrugging her shoulders.

"You were on a mission, and by the time you were back, Princess Shuri had already gotten through. Though, having you in Wakanda when she was reactivated would have been a lot more convenient."

"You're telling me. My back is still aching."

Clint muttered before he grabbed his bow, hitting a switch to lock the parts into place as he gazed around the building. Wanda just shook her head as Natasha spoke, a frown on the assassins face.

"No sign of life. Nothing on thermal. You're still not getting anything, Wanda?"

"Nothing; not even underground."

Clint gave Natasha a look, stating quietly.

"I don't like this, Nat. Something isn't right. Why would the facility be completely cleared out like this unless there's someone already on the inside?"

Wanda spoke up while Natasha was thinking.

"The decoy was supposed to be in Morocco, but if that wasn't the true decoy...perhaps the missions we are leading are."

Natasha stood up, giving Wanda and Clint firm looks.

"Clint, get a hold of King T'Challa immediately. Tell him that there might be a possible mole and to go on lockdown while we get back. This is starting to get complicated."

Clint nodded, walking off a bit as he began to make the phone call, and Wanda frowned again.

"I...hope that I am not in trouble for this, but I looked through Clint's memories of when he and Steve went to the CIA. The Director...what if he is hiding Rollins?"

Natasha muttered, shaking her head as they began to quickly trek back up the hill.

"It would make sense. If he was as nervous as Clint says he was, then perhaps he knows more than he is letting on."

Wanda frowned more, shaking her head before she muttered softly.

"The woman's face...what would they had done to cause such scars like that?"

Natasha was quiet and she sighed.

"HYDRA and the Red Room don't care about your autonomy. They only care about what you can do for them...what you know...what your assets are. If you don't comply, then you get punished. Even the slightest misstep could cost you a broken leg."

'Again!'

Penché Arabesque, Italian Fouetté, Quadruple Pirouette. If you do not dance with the grace of God, may he strike you down with the bite of a thousand widows.

'What if I fail?'

'You never fail.'

Natasha shook her head slightly, and Wanda pursed her lips almost as if she was ashamed, and Natasha turned to Wanda with a frown.

"With HYDRA, it's worse. You've seen what they did to Bucky...the hours of torture and beatings and wiping. I'm sure you can imagine how much worse it became for the others after Bucky's escape."

"Truthfully, I am unsure if I wish to know."

Clint interrupted the two of them with a grave look, his eyes directly onto Natasha as he warned.

"We have an issue. Tony and Steve both had the same problem at their locations. Based emptied, not a soul in sight. We're all on the same conclusion that someone is already on the inside...or they're about to try. We need to get back right now. T'Challa is already moving (Y/n) to a more safe location with Shuri and has arranged the Dora Milaje to stand guard as well."

Natasha frowned and stated, glancing at Wanda.

"You two go on ahead. I'm going to search through the facility for any hard evidence that we might need."

Wanda raised a brow at Natasha as she asked.

"How will you get back?"

The Black Widow just shrugged.

"I'll hitch a ride."

Clint smirked slightly before gesturing with his head at Wanda.

"Come on, we gotta go. Nat knows what she is doing."

Wanda seemed reluctant before she nodded, and the two Avengers were quick to get back to the quinjet. Once they were out of range, Natasha pulled out her phone and sighed as she dialed a number and waited as it rang.

"Romanoff, do you have any idea what time it is right now?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt your precious beauty sleep?"

The man on the other side of the line grumbled before he asked with an annoyed tone.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I need to call in a favor."

-WAKANDA-BUCKY-

His blood was freezing and boiling at the same time. Thoughts were racing through his mind at high speeds, jumbled and unfocused as he stood in front of the woman that was currently in a cryostasis pod in the deepest part of the kingdom. The Dora Milaje were surrounding him, spears at the ready and pointed at the door.

Shuri was currently typing away at her computer as she communicated with the king, and Bucky couldn't help but to feel a surge of angry anticipation go through him.

"What the hell is going on, Princess Shuri?"

Shuri gave Bucky a grim expression, stating.

"The Avengers, except for Tony, have not found anything. All of the facilities were completely empty and cleaned out...we believe that there is a mole."

Bucky cursed to himself, asking with an accusatory tone that made Okoye give him a death glare.

"Great. I thought Wakanda was supposed to be the most secure place in the world?"

Shuri looked frustrated, throwing a hand up in the air.

"It is not completely foolproof! I do not know why my brother claims as such. Every program, every barrier, every theory will have weak spots. The issue is when the opposing factor knows how to exploit that."

Bucky just remained quiet, and Shuri stated.

"We do not know when the enemy will attempt to strike. The safest thing is to keep (Y/n) here and guarded while Tony goes over what he has found at his facility."

Bucky glanced back at the woman that was currently encased in ice, her expression soft and peaceful as she slept, and Bucky muttered with a low tone.

"I'll stay here with (Y/n). If you're up there with Tony, it'll cut the work time in half. If you're comfortable with it, having half of the Dora Milaje to stay here with me would increase our chances tenfold."

Shuri nodded before stating.

"It would as we do not know how many agents Rollins will be bringing with him. However, in order to ensure my brother's safety, I will take all but one. I will leave it up to them to decide who stays with you."

Shuri then walked closer to Bucky, the man leaning down as the princess whispered softly.

"If all else fails, Mr. Barnes, taking her out of cryo might be your best bet. It will be too troublesome to try to transport the pod...but with the woman herself? It might be the best option."

Bucky frowned, shaking his head slightly.

"Defrost can take a long time...time that we don't have. If it comes down to that, I don't think there will be enough time to defrost and transport."

Shuri then gave Bucky a look before she backed away.

"Then, Mr. Barnes? Make it work. She's depending on you...on us all."

Bucky felt shivers go down his spine, and he pursed his lips as he watched Shuri and all but one of the Dora Milaje leave. The remaining agent stood at the door, straight and poised; almost statue-like as she awaited for trouble or orders...or both. Bucky turned back to the woman and he frowned. Would defrosting her now be a good choice?

There was a part of Bucky that wanted to in order to tell the woman the truth: that her Handler was coming after her, and it was time to make a choice. However, would that be fair? Would it be fair to put this woman, who had endured years and years of torture and pain and suffering, through the experience of seeing her Handler again?

Bucky ran a hand through his hair before scratching at his beard. The fire within the torches in the room flickered, and the light glinted off of his metal arm, making Bucky look down at it.

'It's not gonna be easy. Lots of people know about the past...but we can make it a much better future if we stick together. I'm here to help you, Buck...and I certainly am not going to punish you.'

Bucky remembered that he had been making coffee when Steve had come by, sitting down at the table with a steaming cup of his own; that familiar solemn look in those blue eyes. He remembered that Doris Day was playing on a record that Tony had found for him, much to his dismay and the pushing of the rest of the Avengers.

'People don't forget, Steve. How can I make amends for the things that I've done when all people see when they look at me is the Winter Soldier?'

Despite the moment being serious, Steve couldn't help but to crack a small smile.

'Give them a new face to look at then.'

'You're a punk, you know that?'

Give them a new face to look at. Bucky clenched his fist before looking up at the woman in the pod and he took a deep breath.

"I'm gonna get into so much trouble for this."

STORY NOTES: Natasha, Clint, and Wanda are in the Swiss Alps for their mission. It is 4:38am, and Natasha notes how cold it is. She muses that no matter how hard the Red Room had conditioned her, Natasha hated the cold the most. Clint and Wanda are officially introduced, and Wanda makes the observation that the HYDRA base they are at seems to be empty. Clint offers that Rollins could be hiding with the CIA since the other bases seemed to be empty as well, and Natasha decided that the group should still investigate the building just in case.

While Wanda checks through the building again, Clint becomes uneasy, telling Natasha that he doesn't like the situation. Wanda mentions the Decoy in Morocco, and points out that the true decoys are the missions the Avengers are leading at this moment. Natasha orders Clint to get in touch with T'Challa, and Wanda reveals that she looked through Clint's memories of when he went to the CIA with Steve. Wanda questions the Director's credibility, and Natasha agrees.

Wanda then becomes solemn as she asks what could have caused the scars on the woman's face, and Natasha is quick to reply. She is then sent into a flashback of when she was forced to learn ballet, and Natasha quickly regains her wits, explaining further that since Wanda was able to see what HYDRA did to Bucky, it is obvious the torture became worse after his escape.

Clint comes back to inform Natasha and Wanda that Tony and Steve both were unsuccessful with their missions as well, and that everyone is in agreement that someone is already on the inside. They all begin to prepare to depart, but Natasha hangs back. Wanda is quick to question her, but Natasha answers that she will be able to find her way back. Natasha calls in a favor to an unknown person, and the point of view changes.

The scene opens to Wakanda and Bucky once more. Bucky is anxious and nervous as the Wakandan's mobilize and get ready for an attack; moving (Y/n) (L/n) to the deepest and safest part of the Citadel. Bucky questions Shuri on what is going on, and Shuri reveals that the Avengers, except for Tony, have not found anything at all and all the facilities were completely empty. She reveals that she believes there is a mole.

Bucky becomes frustrated, and Shuri tells him that none of them know when the enemy will attempt to strike and the best course of action is to keep (Y/n) in the safehaven until further notice. Bucky announces that he will stay with (Y/n) so Shuri may help Tony. Shuri agrees, and then advises Bucky that taking the woman out of the cryopod will be the best course of action if all else fails. Bucky refuses, stating that defrost will take too long, but Shuri refuses to take no for an answer.

Shuri and the Dora Milaje then leave, leaving one agent alone with Bucky and (Y/n), and Bucky begins to have an internal dilemma. after experiencing a recent flashback of a conversation between him and Steve, Bucky makes his choice.

TRANSLATIONS:

None

TAGLIST: @tilldeathripsusapart @vicmc624 @mgchaser @aash3 @samfunko @seventeen-x @valckenaux @babybeeelle @sc4rrc @cjand10 @bane-y-zane

#bucky barnes x reader #james buchanan barnes x reader #james bucky barnes x reader #winter soldier x reader #the winter soldier x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #james bucky barnes #the winter soldier #winter soldier #marvel #marvel x reader #captain america #captain america x reader

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liri-sims · 2 months ago

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Followers gift part 2: Medieval magazines!

So, magazines didn't really exist until the 18th century. But before that, there were cheap, widely available publications - broadsides, chapbooks, pamphlets - that covered a wide range of subjects like news, true crime, political commentary, entertainment (some ballads were literally just existing poems set to music) and news-of-the-weird subjects like witchcraft and prophecies and that woman in England who claimed she kept giving birth to rabbits, and so on. A lot of the same subjects covered by Sims 2 magazines, in other words. They weren't done in periodical form, but neither are Sims 2 magazines, which are the same week after week.

So that was my initial model. I started out with monochrome woodcut prints from 15th- and 16th-century books and broadsheets, but my early attempt at defaulting the magazines made me think that color might be advisable to make the images easier to recognize at tiny sizes. That led me down a rabbit hole of medieval manuscript art, with the end result that some of the magazines are using art that is far, far too lavish for a mass publication. But it's aesthetically pleasing!

All the magazines have unique interiors, unlike the originals. Most of the text is just Lorem Ipsum (I did include a bit of Chicken Little/Henny Penny in the children's magazine, because one of the illustrations cried out for it) so you're not missing anything by not being able to read it. I used Simlish TrueBadoor for all the text, titles and articles alike.

Man, that floor is pixelated. Hestia and Osanyin need to remodel their foyer. Above you see the entertainment/fashion/sports magazine, with a focus on music. That cover, like many of the others, dates to just a bit before 1500; that was my target zone, though I wasn't super-strict about it. I may well do another default later, with earlier artwork - the Codex Manesse has a lot of good candidates - but I'm a little burnt out right now, which is why I haven't followed through with the hobby magazines.

I replaced the catalog descriptions and titles in the UI, too. Mostly not very period-accurate, except for the judgmental tone towards frivolity and avarice, though I did sometimes use period titles complete with the spelling of the time.

You can see one cover for "All That Glittereth" up above, but it will display a different one when you bring the magazine home; this is normal, if annoying. Maxis for some reason included two money-themed publications and then mixed them up. The UI in use shows a sim buying the magazine in an OFB owned business, but it should look a lot the same in an unowned, NPC-run lot.

And as you can see from the image at the top of the post, I also did a recolor - two recolors, in fact - of this default replacement magazine rack by Motherof70, with my magazine covers. The rack has nine magazines on display and there are only six interest magazines, so I included the alternate cover for Rat Race and two of the hobby magazine covers (or at least early versions of them. I change my mind a lot.)

All the textures are 512 x 512, except for the magazine rack itself, which is 1024 x 1024.

Acknowledgements: These were all built on the template of Lolabythebay's 1920s magazine defaults, and some parts - the page edges and spines - are used barely altered. I adjusted the colors on the spines but kept recycling the underlying graphic. I would never have made sense of the Maxis mapping, let alone been able to increase the resolution of the texture file, without her hard work.

If not for Xia's hobby magazine defaults, I'd have had no idea where to start on looking for the catalog descriptions to replace them.

And I probably wouldn't have thought of doing the magazines at all if not for the default rack.

As for art credit: I've been painstakingly bookmarking all the images used and would be delighted to do a link post, but I don't know how many people would be interested, and this is already getting long.

Magazine replacements: SFS or Box.

Magazine rack recolors: SFS or Box.

Everything is compressorized and seems to work fine for me. Let me know if there are any problems!

#Test of Time challenge #TS2 historical #TS2 medieval #Sims 2 historical #Sims 2 medieval #TS2 default #my creations

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hobnob2020 · 7 months ago

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The Veilguard review

Big spoilers ahead for the people that haven't finished the game yet.

So after plugging 70+ hours I've finally completed Veilguard.

This will just be a general overview of how I felt about the game, I'll likely do a separate one for Solas/Mythal and Lavellan and one for a Lucanis romance.

First off I want to say that any negative criticism I had for the game I am reminded of how difficult this game was to get off the ground running in the first place; it experienced multiple layoffs, it pulled the team to focus on Anthem when it failed, the team was reduced, OG writers left and multiple people lost their jobs once their work was complete and lets not forget those that worked on this during a pandemic so I think it's important to keep coming back to this so that we can just appreciate what we had as an end product.

Now the end product itself, did I enjoy it? absolutely.

I've laughed, I've been giddy, I've been angry at times and in those final moments was reduced to tears that reconciliations were reached and it was the end of a very long 10 year wait.

I want to start from the beginning where we welcomed our Rooks because holy moly is the character creator detailed. I mean seriously every single Rook I've seen is a catwalk model 😂

Every faction felt different and the brief history to your character was really well done; I went with a female mage elf I the Crows and I loved being a Crow from the get go; the decision that she made that essentially forced her to leave the Crows because she'd basically f*cked up a mission was really interesting because there's still that tension once she returned with Viago (who I adored BTW, his disappointing fatherly persona against Teia's comfort and protectiveness was just perfect) and it set the course for every Rook wanting to prove themselves.

Briefly touching on the Inquisitors creation I was so happy that this was an early decision and hearing her say "it's good to see you again" was like a stab to the heart and felt like I was being welcomed back home after such a long journey.

Once into the gameplay it's hard to ignore how beautiful the graphics look, Minrathous' design was so unexpected and how the locals were treated makes me wonder how Dorian ever survived 😂

There were certain scenes that just blew me away and made me realise just how far games have come to allow us them; the moment you open the doors at Weisshaupt and see Ghilan'nains massive looming face in the clouds was just breath taking, in fact the two gods in general were very well done and there wasn't enough of them in my opinion.

The animation as a whole was very good and again compared to Origins this game is on a different level of good (hate to compare it to other games but Balders gate is probably the closest contender).

There's a particular scene with Lucanis as a romance where he walks over to you after you basically say you like what you see and that Spite doesn't define him, the way his face moves, the little smile, the way his eyes drop to your lips when you touch him floored me and I think having motion capture for this game definitely paid off.

The mechanics of the game were fantastic and as I've yet to play anything other than my mage I am excited to play other classes and possibly Warrior for the first time across 4 games, although Spellblade ruined a mage for me as I love being able to be upfront in a battle and found it perfect for my Crow mage.

I went with purple Rook for this playthrough as I wanted a charming Crow who had far too much energy and was awkward in the best way possible and loved every minute of it; Bioware has always been very clever at establishing the different personalities and how they affect the world around them. Going into a scene and having your Rook react by themselves depending on their personality makes the character feel real and that we aren't just following the same thread of dialogue.

When you first meet Solas they didn't lie that it would feel like an end game mission, the dialogue was fantastic, his voice actor is just incredible and he has a talent to be confident, insecure, determined and doubtful of his own words all in one and it was very easy to fall In love with Solas during inquisition.

I really enjoyed how the first decision you make as Rook ends with the gods escaping, either Harding or Neve being injured which puts doubts in your friendship and leadership from the beginning, that Solas who we'd believed to be the big bad was essentially trapped and looked like a kitten compared to these evil beings who want world domination, it really makes the player question how are we going to fix this massive mistake that we've created, because it takes the gods no time to get to work whilst we scramble to find a team and cleanse multiple parts of Thedas at the same time aswell as setting up base in the fade where we dig deep into the history of Solas and the ancient gods past.

The companions of this game I felt were individuals in their own ways with their own back stories and present problems but I felt as a whole weren't as good as say the previous game; there was no double crossing mages or people with their own greed and agendas, no hidden pasts like Blackwall which personally fell abit flat for me.

In fact I'd say the only one who had an interesting story was Lucanis after his imprisonment and demonic possession and the struggles that came with it.

I don't think I'll romance anyone else other than Emmrich as the others just don't interest me.

It just felt like you were constantly flitting to the Lighthouse and back to grind out companion tasks in order to gain approval and faction points, there was no option to just have a conversation like previous games instead it was very much on their terms and where you were in the game which was something i really missed.

Still, their personalities were very different and characters like Lucanis, Taash and especially Emmrich stole my heart very quickly.

The banter was top notch quality as per 👌 some of my favourites were from Taash and Lucanis, just being a Crow in the middle of their conversations about capes was hilarious at times.

The voice acting as a whole was very good, I felt with some characters particularly Neve it felt abit flat in moments but Bioware have a knack for finding talented voices; having someone as bubbly and excited as Bellara to the deadpan and slightly blunt at times Taash made for a very diverse team.

Returning characters was always a welcome and there were some surprising cameos such as Isabella in the Lords of Fortune faction.

I know alot of people were disappointed that this game felt limited in bringing over past choices but it needed to make sense; Sera isn't going to return and be found in the deep roads etc, it needed to serve a purpose to The Veilguards story and I'm happy with the ones we did get.

When it came to the three decisions from inquisition yes I was disappointed at first; why are we ignoring who drank from the well, why aren't we talking about Hawke, who's ruling Fereldon, who's Divine?.

I think we need to remember that after 4 games the decisions from little to big are so vast that there's simply no way to fit it all in and satisfy everyone and baring in mind this game is for new players too.

Having this game set outside of Ferelden means those decisions won't carry weight in Veilguard, who is divine won't affect us, where Hawke is doesn't affect us because we know they'll either be in the fade or fighting against the evil.

And yes a codex could of helped address any of this but again, it's a smaller team now at bioware and the focus is on Rook this time around, it's their turn and tbh reading codex' is time consuming when you've got gods to fight 😂

The only decision I really wanted brought over was who drank from the Well because as a Solasmancer he was so pissed at me but I think I know why it was glossed over.

I think having Solas being able to control your Inquisitor would have the issue of consent and violation and as a romance that doesn't feel right, especially given how Mythal basically manipulated Solas and used him as a slave it just goes into uncomfortable territory.

We could also argue that Solas absorbed Mythals essence so all that's left is her memories and the tiny fragment you find in the crossroads so essentially Mythal ceases to exist thus there's no pledge anymore for the inquisitor and that she only needed her help to fight Corypheus, who knows but I'm glad Solas wasn't able to do that to the Inquisitor.

The endgame was amazing, finally killing Ghilan'nain was so satisfying and Lucanis was an absolute bad ass doing it, seeing Solas become the dreadwolf and hearing his pained cries was heartbreaking even if he couldn't stop betraying my Rook 😂.

Forcing you as a player to lose a character despite high factions and hero status was brutal, and I unfortunately lost both Davrin and Assan. As much as I loved them both, it made sense to his character to die in that way, and Harding has so much more to do for the dwarves and titans.

I'll talk about Solas/Mythal and Lavellan on another post but I was very happy with how it ended, seeing the art concept of him making himself tranquil just shows how differently it could of gone, and I honestly expected them to die in each other's arms.

If I think of anything else I'll add it onto this post but yeah, 10 years man and it's over, well not over completely as I'm creating an Emmrich romance as we speak but I can't believe years of speculation and doubt is now in our hands forever.

Yes this game could of been better in parts and blew my expectations away in others but I loved it and I think the negative criticism over characters like Taash, the three previous decisions, crazy solasmancers which bring the team down is so unjust and people need to reflect on themselves as humans.

All I would say to those that critic this game as heavy as they have is to take their time and play it again, you'll find things you missed the first time around, really read the codex', just sit back and understand what the characters are saying, read between the lines and just take it back to beginning of this post, this game very nearly didn't happen and alot of talented people that have given you this game have lost their jobs so please just be grateful for what we do have and pray that this isn't the end of dragon age.

Edit:

The whole Varric thing was probably my least favourite thing about the game, not because he died but it just didn't make sense that Rook didn't know until the very end.

I had my suspicions because he was always tired and going back to bed and something about it didn't feel right.

For other companions to say "oh we thought you knew" was just silly, I could understand Solas using his powers to create an illusion but why not on all the companions because surely Rook at some point was like "Oh i'll take some food to Varric" or "have you been to visit him", without that Rook just sounds crazy 😂

#dragon age 4 #dragon age the veilguard #dragon age #da4 #solas dragon age #solas #dragon age spoilers #dragon age the veilgaurd spoilers #veilguard spoilers #solas x female lavellan #solavellan hell #lucanis dellamorte

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yanderes-galore · 9 months ago

Note

I think prompts 31, 41, and 55 would go good with nubbins sawyer! If you're familiar enough with him. Also, remember to take care of yourself ^^

-🌹

*Glances at Prompts* Welp, cannibalism time. Here we go again.

Yandere! Nubbins Sawyer Prompts 31, 41, 55

"I'd make you bleed just to get an even better taste of you...."

"I made this mark on myself to show you how much I love you!"

"Now there's always a part of me with you...."

Pairing: "Romantic"

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Cannibalism, Delusional behavior, Vomit, Blood, Sadism, Masochism, Biting, Dark themes, Graphic scenes, Forced "relationship".

What's more intimate than consumption?

Such a thought couldn't be more true for a certain member of the Sawyer family. Human consumption wasn't anything new to him. It was actually his family's main food source.

Although, for Nubbins, it appears food and... desire mix a bit too closely.

You were originally meant to be prey. Just another meal for his family to feast upon. But... Nubbins found himself too interested in this one.

Your friends were another story, though.

Ever since he caught you, he keeps you locked away in a shrine he dedicated to you. Tied to a chair, you are completely at your captor's mercy. The thought of eating human flesh alone was repulsive.

Nubbins views the act as bonding.

Your taste is addicting. Nibbling on you as though you were a meal, lapping at your blood like a starved animal... Euphoric. You are the tastiest meal and he views your consumption as a bond no one else could have.

You could never grow used to when he chomps down into your flesh, digging his teeth in like a rabid dog. It always hurts, the pain excruciating. It disgusted you to hear his moans as he laps your blood with deranged giggles.

Yet that was nothing compared to him feeling you should also experience such a sensation.

"I'd make you bleed just to get an even better taste of you...." Nubbins chuckles towards you, breath ghosting over his skin. His mouth is covered in blood from his previous feast. The pain made you nauseous already, stomach churning in dread.

Or something else as you smell something in the room... it both makes your mouth water and bile stir in your gut... you haven't eaten in how long...?

"You know I love you, right?" He asks, a bloody smile on his face. Praying for some sort of mercy, you nod. Nubbins merely coos before holding your chin.

"I have a surprise...!" Nubbin soon chirps, nuzzling into you. "A surprise because you love me...."

It's then Nubbins pulls back and shows a crudely bandaged wound on his thigh. Your hunger subsides when you catch sight of the cut wound. You can see the blood dried on his leg, the wound under the bandage threatening to spill more when he moves. He barely even noticed his own wince, grinning too much to grimace.

You wondered if he enjoyed the pain... He's shaking....

"See!?" He squeals excitedly, like a child showing off something they're proud of, "I made this mark on myself to show you how much I love you!"

You grimace, thinking that's all before Nubbins excitedly turns around.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait...!" He sputters before pulling a place away from a small table. The smell from before reaches you again, it's stronger now. You had smelled that smell a few times, in fact you hoped that was his meal and not yours. You tried to keep such a hope... stomach churning at the mere smell of the cooked meat he began to show you.

Thigh meat.

Human thigh meat... His thigh meat.

Clearly meant for you to eat.

"I made this for you... to show you how much I love you...!" Nubbins coos, holding the plate up to you. You had mixed reactions. For the most part, you were quite starved... but you know what that meat is.

"Want me to feed you?" Nubbins asks, the question clearly rhetorical with your bound hands. You shake your head but Nubbins clearly doesn't listen, cutting a piece with a fork before putting the foul meat to your lips.

You quickly try to thrash, to turn your head away, acting like a child being given a vegetable. Except, in this situation, this is quite the reasonable reaction. Your struggling is futile, however...

The cooked meat enters your mouth, the taste foreign as you struggle against the fork.

"Chew!" Nubbins encourages, although it sounds like an order. You struggle to listen, chewing the tender meat reluctantly before struggling to swallow. It takes time... but you manage to swallow.

You feel so ill.

"Now there's always a part of me with you...." Nubbins squeals excitedly, ignoring how you tremble. "Now have some more...."

The meal is long, agonizing, and nerve-wracking. You're forced to scarf the meat, like it's the only meal you've had in weeks. In all honesty, it felt like that. Once it's all done, Nubbins praises you... despite you looking pale.

"Good! You do love me!" Nubbins looks like a kid on the holidays, while you look like you'd rather remove your stomach. "We should do this more! We love each other!"

Nubbins eyes you like a slice of meat but before you're subjected to more torture, he's called by a member of his family. He seems irritated, a scowl on his face as he glances at the door before looking back at you. You hope he leaves faster.

"See you soon, baby...." Nubbins coos in a sickening tone, kissing your cheek and licking the skin before storming out of the room. Once gone, you're left in an eerie silence. Your grimace, shaking...

Only to vomit in your lap, purging the foul meat like you wish you could purge him... the sickening fluid warm on your thighs as it dribbles down the chair...

All while you yearn for home... a dull throb of hunger and nausea in your gut.

#yandere slasher #yandere slashers #yandere nubbins sawyers #yandere texas chainsaw massacre

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sapphic-agent · 1 year ago

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Let's Talk About the Switched at Birth Theory

If you told me I would be making an Ever After High Theory in 2024 I would have never believed you. But I recently came across a theory from like 2022 that poses the possibility of Apple and Raven being switched at birth. At first I thought there wasn't a chance it held water, but the more I looked into it the more I was sent down a rabbit hole.

(I know this is a hated theory please don't kill me)

The original theory was made by _fairytale_vibes_ on YouTube. Here's a link to the most updated version of the theory, watch it if you haven't already:

youtube

I went into this video thinking that it wouldn't lead anywhere, but OP does make a lot of very good points. So with her theory in the back of my head, I decided to dive into the book series to see if I could find anything to support or disprove it.

(I'll be editing as I read the books and rewatch the show, so at the time of posting it I've only completely finished The Storybook of Legends. So whatever I say here may not be 100% accurate compared to the rest of the series. I'll update and revise as I continue reading, but please tell me if whatever I've said is wrong)

1. Appearances

This may be the most important part of the theory as it's been the focal point of the original video. So let's dive into it from the book's descriptions.

Raven: "...long black hair with purple highlights, dark eyebrows, strong nose and chin."

The Evil Queen: Dark hair, deep purple eyes

Snow White: "...black hair was curled under her golden crown. Her skin was still white as snow, her lips red as blood."

Apple: Pale, blond, red lips

One thing I definitely noticed was that multiple times, the book goes out of its way to compare Raven's looks to her mother's. Raven herself calls it out multiple times. However, it actually seemed to be the opposite with Apple. While her features- other than her hair- are said to fit what Snow White is supposed to be, there aren't many comparisons made to her mother herself.

In fact, I think the only time she's actually directly compared to her mother is when she looks at her destiny during Legacy Day. "She looked so much like her mother, only blond." Even here, there aren't many details about it, not like there are Raven's.

(This whole montage is interesting, I'll talk about it more later)

One of the theory's linchpins is that The Evil Queen in her youth seemed to have platinum blond hair. In the Dragon Games special, she is animated as a teen with what looks like whitish hair. And in the graphic novel The Class of Classics, her hair does look platinum blond (and is described as being such by her roommate and best friend, the Cheshire Cat).

Apple's blond hair is an anomaly. There's never been a Snow White with blond hair, as the story is clear about it being ebony. It's brought up multiple times in the book and is a point of insecurity for Apple. The Evil Queen also having blond hair is an... Interesting connection for them to have. As in, they share the one trait that separates Apple from the Snow White lineage.

One thing that actually threw me off, however, is that the Evil Queen actually had green eyes in her youth. And you can actually see hints of green in the purple of her eyes if you look at her show model. Raven's eyes are purely purple and Apple's are blue. The EQ having green eyes seemed so left field to me.

The theory implies that the purple highlights in Raven's hair and the purple coloring in the EQ's hair comes from their magic, if we extend that to their eyes it does actually start to make more sense. Raven's powers could develop quicker/stronger than her mother's, which could have caused the purple coloring to affect her eye color quicker than it did the EQ's. It's very possible that Raven was born with green eyes and they changed the stronger her magic got.

But then what about Apple's eyes? One thing I found odd even watching Dragon Games for the first time is the very obvious difference in the shade of Apple and Snow's eyes. They're both blue, but Apple's are a lot lighter while SW's seem to be darker. It's like the show went out of their way to show even more distinction between them.

You know who also has blue eyes? The Good King.

Well, according to his Wiki page. I actually didn't make note if his eye color was mentioned in SBOL (and I can't because I had to return the loan). This fact may not be true, since Raven's non-existent brother Michael is still on there (seriously why hasn't anyone removed him).

But still, if the Good King does have blue eyes, that could be another physical connection Apple has to Raven's family.

2. Parallels

One thing I was surprised the theory never mentioned was the Two Sisters fairytale.

If you don't know, the Two Sisters is the tale about an "ugly" sister and a "beautiful" sister. The ugly sister is kind so butterflies float around her head while the beautiful sister is mean so she only attracts flies. The beautiful sister wants to get rid of her flies so she has the ugly sister lower her into a well. Then she makes the ugly sister go into the well too, and she almost drowns. But she escapes with the help of her butterflies. The ugly sister turns beautiful and the beautiful sister turns ugly. The flies that circled the beautiful sister returned and chased her into the forest and she was never heard from again.

This story is important because Raven found out that the sisters who were supposed to have this story- Bella Sister and Brutta Sister- never signed and instead ran away.

Why am I bringing it up? Well, in SBOL after Raven reads the story, the next time Apple is given a POV, we get a flashback of her almost drowning in a well as a child.

This is very clearly an attempt to draw a parallel between Apple and Raven and Bella and Brutta. But if it was just that Raven decided to reject her fate like Bella, it doesn't say much. Brutta didn't want Bella to suffer a villain's fate as much as Bella didn't want to try to drown her, while Apple wants to embrace destiny fully even if it means confining Raven to a life she doesn't want.

To me, this is trying to tell us something else. That maybe we should be looking at Apple and Raven's relationship differently.

3. Attitude and Personality

A somewhat surprising detail that I noticed is that Apple acts a lot like the Evil Queen, especially in how she treats Raven.

"Apple smiled. She could play the damsel-in-distress like a cow could jump over a moon. The male species couldn’t resist wanting to help her."

"...but the guilt passed as quickly as a butterfly. Looking out for Raven was in Raven’s best interest."

"It’s not wrong for people to see in you your true nature." (To Raven)

"Sometimes she couldn’t think of anything comforting to say. It was a small weakness she was determined to mend."

"Raven’s Coat of Infinite Darkness should have hidden her from anyone who didn’t know she was already there. Apple was very smart."

"Take your hands off me at once, or I swear by wishing wells, seven-league boots, silver wands, and all marvelous things that you will regret it!” (To Goblins)

This is NOT me saying that Apple is evil like the EQ. But more that she can be manipulative, overbearing, and commanding similarly to the EQ. Apple is a lot nicer and has more of a conscience, but she isn't afraid of crossing boundaries to get what she wants (or rather, to do what she thinks is right). She lacks natural empathy a lot of the time (which isn't a bad thing), and it's something she's desperately trying to fix about herself. She's also said to be very intelligent.

(I also want to mention her behavior during the Topsy Turvy spell. I know the spell was said to make the people cursed act the opposite of how they usually would, but as OP points out, Apple really went far with it. She wasn't a mean girl, she was downright evil. OP assumed this could be her true nature. I... Half disagree. I think it's way more that Apple makes a point to make sure she's as nice and helpful as possible, hiding her true feelings so that she's the perfect Snow White. I think the topsy turvy spell made it so that she didn't do that. In other words, it got rid of her inhibitions. Instead of making sure she doesn't say and do awful things, she no longer holds anything back for the sake of being good which is why she's so much worse than the other students)

But like with appearances, there isn't much connecting Raven to Snow White. Sure, Raven is kind. She shows concern for others and likes to help people. She tries to be nice even when she's treated horribly. But nothing about this is specifically Snow White.

In fact, she seems to drive animals away. Her singing causes thorns to ensnare her and Apple. Only ogres obey and listen to her (though they did adhere to Apple). She's also sarcastic and dry. In this regard, there isn't a lot about her that matches up with Snow White.

(If we're being completely fair, Snow White also never had as many defining traits as the Evil Queen, even in the original Grimm Fairytale. So attempting to mirror her in Apple or Raven might have been a struggle for the writers)

4. Symbolism

You know what threw me off? The fact that Apple's animal companion was a snow fox.

It seemed like such an odd choice when I read it. Like, why a fox of all things? But then I looked into actual symbolism for snow foxes.

Overall Symbolism: Adaptability, Resourcefulness, & Intelligence

Christian Symbolism: Purity & Humility

Native American Symbolism: Resilience & Determination

Eastern Symbolism: Cleverness & Cunning

I actually thought it was really interesting that all of these traits seem to fit Apple. She's resilient, clever, determined, and resourceful. But she's also supposed to stand for purity and humility too. Almost like there are two sides of Apple: how she actually is and what she pushes herself to be because of expectations.

(This actually comes up a lot in the book. Apple's good deeds come from a place of needing to set a good example and live up to the Snow White legacy. She separates what she actually thinks and feels from what she's supposed to perceive as right and wrong)

Raven having a dragon is definitely less unexpected. However, there's decent symbolism with her too. In Eastern traditions, dragons stand for supernatural power, wisdom, strength, and hidden knowledge. These are all things that definitely fit Raven. If we're looking at this in comparison to the Snow White destiny, the wisdom and power could be alluding to her eventually becoming Queen.

5. My Thoughts

Do I think Raven and Apple were switched at birth? No. Primarily because I can't think of a valid reason for it happening. OP suggests the Evil Queen switched Apple and Raven's powers, forcing Snow White to switch out their babies. But this reason is convoluted at best.

For one, the Evil Queen seems to care for Raven as much as she's able. Raven herself states that the EQ loves her in her own way. She wants to bond with Raven, wants Raven by her side as she tries to take over the world. I can't see her being like this towards someone she knows is Snow's daughter.

I also can't think of why she would do this. She's all too eager to continue her legacy through Raven. Why would she change Apple's fate that way if she was her actual heir?

No, my theory is that Raven and Apple are sisters, both daughters of the Evil Queen.

(I'm so sorry Rapple shippers)

I know, that's possibly more outrageous than the switched at birth theory. But my mind couldn't stop circling back to this. Apple shares so many traits with the Evil Queen, but Raven doesn't share as many with Snow White. The Two Sisters parallels were too heavy to ignore.

Why and how would this happen? I think that when the Evil Queen had them, Apple was born without powers. Since the EQ values power over everything (other than beauty) she decided Apple was worthless. But instead of getting rid of Apple, she gave her to Snow and Charming (who couldn't have kids) either anonymously as a cruel twist of fate or some sort of deal was made between them.

That or her having twins sent Grimm and Snow into panic mode since she was already on her magical rampage. So they made a plan to take one of the babies to avoid something similar happening in the future. Snow agreed to raise her as her own as the next Snow White to combat whatever "natural evil" she was born with.

It could be why Grimm is so invested in Apple and Raven specifically. He's trying to make sure Apple stays good and Raven turns evil so that the Snow White story can play out smoothly and things can stay balanced within the Realms.

Now if we wanna step away from secret baby theories (which I totally get), another possibility is that Raven and Apple's destinies were swapped. Which I also think is very likely.

OP points out in Thronecoming when Raven calls Apple selfish for wanting her to sign, Apple retorts that she wants to keep everyone safe. She then hands Raven an apple and tells her that she's the one being selfish. She's directly mirroring what the Evil Queen does, like their roles have been swapped.

She also adds that when Raven is transported into Snow White's story later in the episode, the old woman is basically shouting that this is her destiny as she hands her the apple. None of the other girls are being pushed as strongly. Sure, we can look at this as just her destiny in general, but it could be indicating that she will take the role of Snow White.

We saw in Dragon Games that Apple easily became jealous of Raven for how liked she was becoming. Which is similar to why the Evil Queen hates Snow White. If the show hadn't gotten cancelled, this could have been her slow descent towards evil while Raven was coming into being good.

(And to be honest, this can still happen with the twin theory. Every Snow White story is different. A jealous sister can fit into the story as well as a jealous stepmother)

Now before anyone says that Apple and Raven saw their destinies... No they didn't. They saw their fates from a fake Storybook of Legends. A fake put there by the Evil Queen, mind you.

Raven's fate was depicted as her being even more evil than her mother. It would be so like the EQ to curse the fake book to depict her daughter's fate as overly villainous. As for Apple, it could have also been cursed to act out as the original book would for anyone who proclaimed themselves the child of whatever fairytale character. So her saying that she's the daughter of Snow White showed her the typical fate of the next Snow White.

(I mentioned earlier that Apple is only said to look like Snow White during her glimpse into the future at Legacy Day. This actually plays into the fate she sees being false. It's showing her what she wants to see, and that's being able to live up to her mother)

Yes Raven signed the true book in Wonderland. But all that did was give her the EQ's full powers. Powers which were part of the reason Apple became jealous in the first place. We never saw Raven's actual destiny from that book.

So no, I don't think Apple and Raven were switched at birth. But I do think OP's observations do leave a lot to be analyzed. I know a lot of people will say that this being canon ruins the story, but I honestly don't think so. Raven and Apple can still decide their destinies. It doesn't matter who their parents are or aren't, what matters is what choices they make. The main theme of Ever After High is choice. If Apple ever did turn towards evil, Raven would be right there trying to pull her back.

They choose their destinies. They decide their fates no matter what happens

#ever after high #eah #ever after high theory #eah theory #ever after high switched at birth theory #eah switched at birth theory #raven queen #apple white #the evil queen #snow white #long post #returns to the eah fandom eons later #its been 84 years #either this post is really smart or i'm losing my mind #but hey that's just a theory #A FILM THEORY #pls don't hate me

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lightning-wyvern · 14 days ago

Text

a shot of you

30 Days of Sosuke Aizen 20/30 ; part 2 ; previous entry

sosuke aizen x male reader | fluff, romance content makeout sesh, hickeys, soft possessiveness, cursing

pov ya boi was an hour late with day 20, what u expect from me

words 1,541

reblogs appreciated!

banner made by @saradika-graphics

it snowed last night... not enough to stick to the ground, just a thin, delicate layer of frost lining the sidewalks, sparkling like sugar in the morning sun. you didn't even bother checking the forecast anymore; your shifts always started at 7am, with or without your comfort.

you were tying your apron behind your back when the bell over the shop door jingled, even though you hadn't even unlocked it yet.

only one person would ignore the "closed until 7" sign like that...

"good morning, love," aizen said softly, his breath fogging in the cold. he wore a dark grey scarf around his neck today, knotted perfectly. and you wondered, just for a second, how long it took him to tie it like that...

then you mentally slapped yourself.

"you're early," you replied with a smile, already reaching for the espresso handle, "i haven't even turned on the jazz yet. this is a sacred violation of coffee shop ambiance."

he smiled, a private, rare little curve of his lips. the kind that sort of felt like he was humoring you—and, infuriatingly, like he meant it.

"wanted to be the first thing you saw today." he responded simply.

you froze, and for once, the espresso machine wasn't the one who hissed at you; only your own heartbeat did.

"oh," you said, "wow, bold of you to flirt before caffeine."

"i'm not that bold," he countered, chuckling, "i'm just efficient."

he slid into his new usual seat at the counter—the same one he'd claimed for months now, ever since you and he started dating. it pretty much belonged to him.

like you.

"y'want the usual?" you asked through a yawn.

"no, not today," he said.

you turned around, eyebrow raised.

"no?"

"surprise me.” he stated simply.

“that... that's dangerous.” your mouth went a little dry.

he leaned forward just enough to make your fingers twitch a bit.

"i trust you, m/n."

well.

okay then.

you turned away and grinned, trying not to overthink your own heartbeat. you made him something experimental—cinnamon mocha, double shot, oat milk, a swirl of whipped cream like snow piled on top of velvet. and you dusted the top with cocoa; ridiculously romantic. you were almost disgusted with yourself.

you looked at it for a moment, then turned around and set it down in front of him.

"here you go, sosuke."

his eyes flicked to the heart you drew in the foam... you didn't mean toooooo... your fingers just... did it.

his lips twitched.

you glared at the cup.

"don't read into it."

"i didn't say anything," he said, grinning like a high schooler.

"you didn't have to." you pouted.

he took a sip, and his lashes lowered.

you were so screwed.

the shop opened slowly that day; a few students wandered in, bundled in scarves, noses red. you made all their drinks on autopilot, entirely without thinking. and sosuke read a book while the café slowly began to fill up more. you caught him watching you more than once, though... like he was memorizing your hands.

like he was memorizing you.

it should've been creepy.

but it wasn't.

eventually, there was a lull in orders, and he was still sitting there, watching the snow fall outside. the winter light made his profile too perfect; you should've been annoyed. you should've thrown a muffin at him just to ruin the moment, or to tease him.

but instead, you poured yourself a drink and set it down beside him, sliding into the corresponding bar stool.

"break time," you announced definitively.

"you seem very assertive today," he mused.

"i'm a barista—fuck, a dude barista. we thrive on passive-aggression and secret dominance."

“clearly.”

you both sipped in silence. the counter between you suddenly felt a lot smaller than it used to.

then, softly,

"that night... when you kissed me."

"hm?" you looked up from your coffee. "what about it?"

"did you mean it?”

you blinked.

"are you seriously bringing that up here? in broad daylight? while i'm holding a hot liquid?"

he waited.

"I'm joking."

he grinned.

you groaned, leaning on your elbow.

"yes, sosuke, i meant it. geez, i don't just throw kisses at customers. not even the ones who tip well."

"m/n, i don't tip at all," he pointed out.

you grinned.

"exactly."

he set his drink down, and there was a beat of silence that was much too charged to be casual.

"can I do something impulsive?" he asked.

i knew it, you thought.

you didn't even have time to answer before his fingers brushed against yours. just barely. just enough to send sparks dancing up your arm like pleasant static.

your breath caught in your throat.

he didn't move closer, but he didn't pull away either.

"m/n, you've got whipped cream on your lip," he murmured.

"you're gonna use that as an excuse to kiss me again, aren't you." you said, eyebrow disappearing into your hair.

“yup.”

he leaned in.

and you let him.

sosuke's lips brushed against yours with the softest hesitation, almost like he was giving you one last little chance to stop him...

but you didn't.

you tilted your head just enough to meet him halfway, to say yes without having to speak it aloud.

the kiss was warm...

slow...

the kind of kiss that started in your chest and curled down your spin in soft, lazy, flickering waves. his one hand found your cheek, his thumb brushing lightly underneath your eye like he had wanted to do that for quite a while. almost like he was cataloging the shape of your face just with touch.

you couldn't help it—your fingers found the fabric of his hoodie, curling into it like it was an instinct. he tasted like coffee and whipped cream, and something deeper. something smoother. a quiet want he hadn't admitted yet.

neither of you really moved much at first; just lips and breathing. just the softest sounds as he exhaled against your mouth and kissed you a little deeper.

you smiled.

"y'know that wasn't even whipped cream, right?"

he pulled away half an inch, his eyes half closed and impossibly—almost uncharacteristically—soft.

"oh no? what was it then?"

"a milk froth bubble."

"hm," he hummed, leaning in again, his lips brushing against yours as he leaned in again. "then i suppose i'd better double check."

"wha—" but he cut you off, pressing his lips to yours again.

and this time, his hand slid to your jaw—not forceful, just firm. just, there, anchoring you in reality, reminding you that everything happening right now was indeed real.

your heart literally skipped an actual beat when he flicked his tongue across your lower lip, asking a question you didn't know how to answer out loud.

so you kissed him back even harder.

and that was when something... shifted.

the tension between you stretched, tightened. almost like guitar strings pulled too close together. his other hand moved down to settle on your waist, pulling you into his chest as he stepped into it at the same time. your back bumped gently against the countertop, and you gasped a little at the cold edge pressing through your hoodie.

he smiled into your mouth.

"cold, hm?" he whispered.

you nodded.

the laugh he responded with was soft and unfairly attractive, and it vibrated right against your lips as he kissed you again. you could feel the smile in it. the want.

your hands slid up his chest, over his shoulders, your fingers settling at the nape of his neck where his hair curled just slightly. he leaned into your touch like he needed it, almost as if he hadn’t let anyone do this before.

his kisses slowed for a moment, then stopped entirely.

he rested his forehead against yours. both of you were breathing harder now, not from anything rough or fast, just from the sheer weight of it. from feeling too much, too quickly, and not being ready to stop.

“i've wanted to do that for weeks,” he whispered.

you didn’t respond at first; you simply brushed your thumb across the seam of his lower lip and said, “was it worth the wait?”

his eyes fluttered shut.

“god, yes.”

you both stood there for a beat longer, your hearts pressed close together, breaths shared, neither of you willing to let go just yet.

then his eyes opened again, and there was some unexplainable, softer thing there now. something... unguarded.

"you're going to be the sole reason I flunk my econ class," he muttered, touching his forehead to yours and brushing his lips against yours just barely.

"debatable.”

“is it?”

“…no.”

he kissed you again, just one more time, slow and firm and full of promise. almost like he was already thinking about tomorrow. and the day after that.

and when he finally pulled back, he cleared his throat and glanced at the dark café windows.

“do you think anyone saw us?”

you laughed, your nose bumping his.

“only the ghosts of abandoned pastries.”

“good.” he leaned in close again, lips barely grazing your ear. “because next time, i’m kissing you like i mean it.”

what?? you were already breathless.

“that... sosuke, that wasn’t you meaning it?”

he pulled back just enough to wink.

“that was me being polite.”

#~ | posting #~ rhykar #《 rhy writes ♡#bleach #bleach x male reader #bleach men x male reader #anime x male reader #sosuke aizen #aizen x malee reader #sosuke aizen x male reader #bleach fic #bleach x male reader fic #bleach men #bleach fanfic

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thenightling · 9 months ago

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Book bannings and schools mishandling books rant:

Book bannings, particulary school book bannings are weird and arbitrary and that's how they look to kids too.

I went to a number of different schools in Nassau County Long Island as a child. One school banned Goosebumps books as "too scary." And the teacher didn't consider them "Real reading" anyway.

That same school had banned Where's Waldo? (Wally to you UK readers). And "I spy" / "Eye Spy" books (where you search for the objects in cluttered picture, similar to Where's Waldo. They claimed it wasn't really reading.

Well, here's something the "clever" people running that school didn't realize. I'm visually impaired. Optic nerve damage since birth. And "Eye Spy" books were a good form of exercise in helping me focus my eyes. I can't control my own eye movements and those books helped a little but SOMEONE deemed them "not educational."

And my family was pretty poor. And didn't have a car. Trips to the public library weren't as often as I liked and my mother had a bit habit of not returning things to the library so that was also a factor on if we could take anything out.

In another school I went to comic books and graphic novels (Novels in comic book format) were not allowed. I strongly suspect there were parents who thought "graphic" meant sexual content as that's what I came across when asking people who were pro-banning Maus (the graphic novel about a mouse in the holocaust). The English teacher claimed comics are "not really reading." One kid made a great argument about how Shakespeare and classic literature has been adapted in graphic novel form but she argued that it is like a very abridged version since they put pictures instead of written descriptions. I had the impression she hadn't physically seen these graphic novels but assumed.

When I entered Junior High school the school library had a great book on Hebrew folklore that I liked and another book about beliefs in the occult. I tried to take them out and got a lecture from the librarian that those are "reference books only" and cannot be borrowed from the library. umm... Why? And what's the point of a Junior high school "reference only" book? How often do Junior High school kids get to sit down in the library for long stretches at a time.

In seventh grade a teacher from BOCES assessed my reading level. (I was skipped around a lot so I was only eleven). She determined that I had a third or fourth grade reading level at the time. I said "Well, that can improve, right?" (because I loved to read). She replied with "Usually at this age your reading level becomes stationary." I was ELEVEN! Who does that? It was like a deliberate effort to sabotage and discourage my love of books. And ironically, somehow, in English class we were reading The White Mountains, which was a great Scifi novel. And I was not struggling, I was enjoying it.

In my nineth grade English literature class we were handed text books. I always loved these because they were essentially anthology collections of great short stories. The teacher NEVER used the text book. She never assigned any story in it. I saw Harrison Bergeron listed and I had just seen the TV movie version so I wanted to read the original story. I asked the teacher about it and her "words of encouragement" were "That's not going to be assigned. You don't have to read that. Don't bother." I read it on my own.

This same teacher had ordered me to stop reading ahead when we were assigned chapters of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. I loved that book. When I asked why she said "Because you'll forget what you've read."

Well, here it is, almost thirty-years-later and I haven't forgotten at all. Thanks for "Encouraging" me to read.

Another "Encouragement" was when I was in a programming for visually impaired students and the teacher had a book case full of the classics. And "You can read them but only if you write a book report for me after each one."

Well, I just wanted to read them. She wasn't my English teacher. Why should I write her a report? It wasn't going to impact my grade, just slow down my ability to read the next one. So I started to pretend I hadn't finished one book and would discretely move on to another. I did this several times.

One teacher's assistant didn't believe me when I came back from summer break having discovered a love of Anne Rice novels. She started to quiz me on The Queen of the damned to prove to her I read it. (This was before there was even a movie version, mind you). Why do these things? You're going to discourage kids from reading.

In yet another school I went to I was surprised that not only were all of these things allowed and encouraged but the school library even had a coffin shaped book case full of Goosebumps books.

To me this was surreal as I had it engrained into me that Goosebumps was "Not real reading." And "didn't belong in school." I guess that particular school was being reactionary to the books being fashionable among kids (the way Harry Potter would later be). And since kids liked them "Something must be wrong."

But thirteen-year-old me still had the mentality of "Wow, I can't believe this. I wonder how long before they decide they made a mistake and that these should be banned." The below image is similar to the book case the school had.

Combine all this with schools obnoxiously always assigning grim and depressing stories about "coming to terms with loss and death" and it's a wonder any kid likes to read.

I've met grown adults who think all books are about coming to terms with death because that was literally ALL They were assigned as kids. Old Yeller, Charlotte's Web, On my Honor, Bridge to Terabithia... "But kids should learn about death and loss." Yes, but not when it's literally EVERY book they've ever been assigned! It's a wonder anyone grew up loving books.

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xwonderfuldeath · 8 months ago

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.o| Bad Temptation : XXI |o.

Warnings : Violence, injury, graphic depictions, sex

Please, consider supporting me on Ko-Fi ! ♥

“- What are you doing here?

- A routine visit, nothing more.

- I didn't know lawyers were allowed to go around bars, it must be bad for the CV.”

Heisukei only gives a small laugh, which makes Hoseok wrinkle his nose. Crossing his arms over his chest, he settles more comfortably into his office chair, looking for the slightest sign in this abject individual that would give him some meaning to this whirlwind visit. But there was nothing in the lawyer's body language to make him understand why he'd set foot in his establishment. This made him rather nervous. The demon remains on his guard, knowing that Heisukei could have been up to anything, just for fun.

“- I've reread all our laws, you know.

- Good for you.

- And I've never found a law that explains why demons like you can't come back to Earth, open businesses, steal the work of honest people.”

Hoseok remained silent for a few seconds, before slowly straightening up. The audacity of this individual will always amaze him. A bitter chuckle passes his lips as he lets his chair slide back to his feet. He'd never liked Heisukei, and it wasn't just because he was his girlfriend's ex-spouse, although that was part of it. No, he didn't like Heisukei because something seemed wrong with him from the first time he'd met his gaze, something he hadn't yet put his finger on.

“- I'm sorry to hear that you don't yet know how to read our laws. So I invite you to do so and come back later.

- Oh. I don't think you'll be here to greet me anyway. After all, as the mayor stipulated in his last mandate, we no longer accept any unauthorized individuals on our territory.”

Hoseok gazes at him with dark eyes, but says nothing. He watches the three men escorting Heisukei into his office. They smell bad, worse than a rotting zombie, which sends shivers down his spine. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on. Yet Hoseok remains calm, much more so than he would have expected in such a situation. He takes his jacket and one of his best bottles from the shelf, joining the door without being asked.

“- It's been a long time since I've had a vacation. How generous of you.

- I'm delighted we finally understand each other.

- But don't expect to profit from my establishments. Hell has no shortage of your kind, Mr. Damarro, don't you ever forget that.”

When Hoseok walks through the door, he doesn't need to do much for the entire building, along with hundreds of other businesses, to disappear. All that's left is a lot of empty, unkempt land. Heisukei stares into space for long minutes before tapping his foot on the dusty ground, railing against the whole planet, and everything he can.

“- Mr. Damarro…

- What now?

- The mayor wants to see you.”

He takes a deep breath, then simply nods. The journey is silent. None of his guards really dares to speak, and they're all almost relieved when they arrive at the town hall. The town's central building had lost some of its splendor, but Heisukei doesn't dwell on the old building. He walked through the corridors as if he owned the town hall, wrinkling his nose and eyebrows at the sickening scene before him: Mr. Choi, the old vampire who couldn't bear to lose his establishment, was naked, accompanied by a demon. He hisses through his teeth, expressing his disdain, and the young woman quickly disappears into black dust, causing the new mayor to grumble.

“- I was having fun! I wasn't expecting you for at least two hours.

- Let's just say my visit was cut short. What's wrong?

- I still haven't taken back the establishment that was stolen from me. Why? You promised me power and control!

- The Jeon family played their cards faster than I thought. Unfortunately, someone didn't inform me that the wedding season was about to open.

- As if I could. You know very well I have no way of knowing.”

Heisukei refrains from commenting on this stupid mistake. He should be more careful now that he'd stirred up the anthill. Surely alienating the major families wasn't a rich idea. But when you're like him, impatient, you want it all, right away. It was probably stupid, but that was part of his charm after all. He tugged at his jacket, feeling a whiff of disgust as he watched the old man put clothes back on, then walked over to the window, looking at his empire at hand.

“- Your business is ruined, you'll never get it back. The Jeon family did it right. Get over it, we've got work to do, and something far more important than your stupid press.

- What a waste, a thriving business in the hands of a fake vampire. What a shame.”

Heisukei lets out an unpleasant, knife-like laugh, turning to the old man. He glares at him, disgusted by this filthy being. There had always been something disgusting about this odious character. But he was a useful pawn, one he could manipulate to his heart's content without having to fear the consequences. He knew the time would come, and he looked forward to the moment when he would crush him like a common insect. The old man stepped back, obviously not that stupid. Heisukei blew out his breath to relax, looking out over the city again. Soon, everything would be his. His big day would come, and no one would be there to stop him. Taehyung and Jungkook's wedding was just a futility, nothing more. If that idiot Lysa had played her part properly… That's why he didn't like entrusting important tasks to stupid pawns, because afterwards, you had to pick up the pieces. He moistens his lips, turning back to the old man, a little calmer.

“- What about the Kim mansion? Did you have it demolished as requested?

- Actually… that is…

- That what? The tone startled the man, who lowered his head, like a child caught at fault. - Mr. Jeon stopped by City Hall this morning… and…

- And what?

- He bought the mansion from my secretary… during our meeting.”

The office passes through the window, making a hell of a noise. This will most certainly appear in the papers the next day, because of those rapacious journalists incapable of respecting people's privacy. But it goes right over the sorcerer's head, his anger exploding as he waltzes around the furniture, under the terrified gaze of the mayor, who is looking for a corner to hide in.

“- I gave clear instructions. I'm surrounded by incompetents.”

The bookcase flies out, crushing the old man under the floorboards. Heisukei pisses even more at this umpteenth stupidity. Blood drips between the shelves, and he stands there for a minute contemplating the lifeless body. The first generations of vampires were really fragile, and this makes him nauseous. What a waste. He adjusts the folds of his jacket, before stepping out of the office under the appalled and terrified gazes of the secretaries.

“- Mr. Mayor has had an unfortunate accident. Please notify the emergency services.

- Yes, sir…

- From now on, I'll be at the head of the city. Send out a press release. I'll be giving an interview first thing Friday.”

Like little ants, the two vampires hurried to obey his orders, running in all directions, clumsy and indelicate. Heisukei couldn't understand how such an inferior species could be treated so well. This would be one of the first things he'd put in place: only superior beings would be entitled to the best things, the rest are just insects, malleable people. They don't need rights, just to serve those above them and keep quiet. He feels soothed by this thought, calmly rejoining his car.

“- Kim's Restaurant.”

#bts #bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #kim taehyung #jeon jungkook #min yoongi #park jimin #kim namjoon #kim seokjin #jung hoseok #bad temptation #yoonmin #taekook #fluff #love #jung hoseok x oc #elyzabeth ivanovich #hoseok x elyzabeth

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androgynousblackbox · 2 years ago

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My dog died and all I got was sore arms

I haven't slept in at least twelve hours, people, so I better take the chance to keep this rush going until I inevitably crash all the way down. I just want to talk about today. Warning because it gets gross and graphic because fuck me, I guess. I had to live this, I get to tell it.

So the day started as normal. I went downstairs with Oscar so we could both get some breakfast. We had agreed to see the vet at 12 and it was way before that, so I thought eating something would give me a push of energy to keep awake. I haven't stopped petting him all night, only when he himself wanted to play a little or drink water. After that I kept him with me as long I could.

I go downstairs and I see Oscar trying to take a shit. This is important because it has been four days already since he wasn't abled to and the vet told us that his tumor had gotten so big that was obstructing anything from coming out, which was very bad because it could become toxic inside his body and then, boy, that is going to be some painful ass death and we don't want that.

I look at him for a bit, but soon I start to get panicked because not only nothing is coming out, he is still pressing so fucking hard. Little drops of shit go down and he is still trying, dragging his body across the floor, until I see something just about to come out. I can't see it clealy but it looks red so I, ever the optimistic, immediately think that those are his intestines and he is actually hurting himself, if I somehow don't manage to get him to stop he is going to fucking die from blood loss after shitting his organs out. When I try to clean his assholes with the paper towells I just can feel something hard and I have no fucking clue of how intestines being shit out have to feel, so that doesn't help me at all.

You see, this was around 8 in the morning. I was the only one awake in the house. The vet appointment wasn't until four hours later. I call mom to please contact the vet, please get him here so he can give him something for the pain, something, anything, and while she is dressing herself up… he manages to shit a enormous shit that looked hard as a rock. After doing that I still had to clean his asshole with my hand. After a little freak out to my mom because I honestly thought he was going to fucking bleed to death in my arms, I manage to calm down and get Oscar back into my arms. Obviously with some old raggedy ass sheet we were never going to use again anyway because the diarrhea could get on my legs.

Now, it has been weeks since his last bath so he wasn't smelling like fresh puppy already, but now there was that to account. Trying to avoid the stains on his fur I still hold him and pet him, telling him over and over again that I loved him and kissing his head. His fur, the parts that weren't stained, was still so soft and white.

When it's time to go, the entire way I am thinking of somehow running away, to delay it a week more, a day more, but I know that would have only made it worse for the both of us. We get inside the vet's place and let me tell you, on my insides I am still mad at this man because he didn't prepared me for absolute shit.

He first put a tranquilizer on Oscar, but didn't tell me that it would take ten whole fucking ass minutes into doing anything to him. So when I saw him moving his head still and looking around, imagine my fucking surprise when the vet is back after preparing the rest of the stuff and he is still moving, more than willing to bite him for doing more shit he doesn't like.

He also didn't tell me that the effect of the lethal injection would be near instant. Like actually so. One second I can feel his breathing and the next he is gone. And like, that is stupid. It's stupid to feel upset about that. Because if anything that should be a good thing, right? It was all so quick he didn't suffer at all. Like just turning a switch off. But Jesus fuck, would have killed this man to tell me ANYTHING before doing it, TO GIVE ME A WARNING? So I could give him the last belly rub, because I was concentrating on holding his head instead. I wanted to give him a belly rub. He deserved that belly rub.

So he is gone and I have a small little breakdown right there, as you fucking do, and they put him on a cardboard box. Oh, also I put a lock of my hair with his body. Last night I cut as much hair I could off him to fill a little crochet heart I made, so in my head that makes sense. I have a little something of you, you have a little something of me.

I am not religious, superstitious or anything like that. But it means something to me that a part of me remains with his body.

We drove to a place my aunt own where she had told the gardener to make a hole for us. Call me a privilege asshole, because I really must be to think that the gardener himself would be there to wait for us to put the box down and then he would bury him. You know, like in normal funerals for people. The entire way there I can't help to feel that suddenly my arms are too light. My arms that carried Oscar up and down the stairs the last weeks, that carried him to the vet all those times since his diagnosis, that hold him the entire night, were too light and that felt so alien, so wrong to me.

But he wasn't a person, he was a dog. And the gardener probably had better things to do than stay there and pay respects for a dog he never even met. So the hole was there, the pile of dirt was there and against a tree there was what I can only describe as the absolute shittiest shovel that has ever existed on earth. That thing offended me the very moment I laid eyes on it.

Like, most shovels have a proper handle at the end and curve into a triangle on the side that actually goes into the dirt. But this bullshit, this shitty ass thing, was nothing but a metal squared tube ending on a small metallic plate that was only slighty curved. If the gardener actually used that to make the hole, that was rather well made and sufficiently deep, I am going to be fucking impressed.

There wasn't anything else to use, though, so I shoveled that dirt myself until my hands were red, my arms hurt and even my legs were pained. I am an artist, and also a lazy fuck, so you can only imagine my noodle ass arm not being used at all to that physical labor. Mom kept offering for us to do it together, but no fucking way, man. Oscar deserved this, Oscar was in so much pain and suffered so much for so long, so the least I could do is to suffer a little more for him. He was mine. I owe it to him. It was only fair.

That burial was a labor of love. I am proud of doing that for him. I still hope the gardener has his own shovel that is better than that bullshit. But I am glad I did it.

Once I have a proper nap and my brain is back again to it's usual speed I will have a bad time and start missing him and think all sorts of awful things because he isn't here anymore. I will miss him. I miss him now. I don't regret one second I spend with that dog.

On the way back home the soreness in my arms was all I could ask for. Oscar wasn't there anymore, but I said goodbye the best way I could and he is not in pain anymore.

Que Descanses En Paz, Oscar.

#pets death #terminally ill dog #terminal cancer dog #andro is talking #i just woke up from a nap and nope still kinda in space right now #partner said i am still in shock and trying to process #you would hope or i hope i would process something on these weeks #but alas i was wrong #i can't stop thinking about holding him #oscar posting

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pangolinheart · 2 years ago

Note

(how far did you have to dig to find that post wow lol)

Anyway Lahabrea

[[Actually it wasn't that hard to find! My obsessive tagging system isn't only for forcing my followers to look at huge blocks of text they don't care abou - it's also so I can find posts when I want to go back to them without going through hundreds of pages of reblogs!

Anyway, when I saw this ask I thought this was going to be the hardest pairing to write for... but it was actually one of the easiest. At first I thought the only way to make something work was to do something Hephaistos/Azem, but I still haven't played Endwalker so I wasn't confident in my ability to write for that time period, and based on ambient spoilers it seems like Hephaistos was pretty preoccupied with his wife and child. Then I realized I didn't actually know what Lahabrea really looked like and, well...

I'm not super happy with the way this turned out, but I'm too lazy to edit it again so it's good enough.]]

Send me a character and I'll describe a ship with them and my OC.

Cid | M'zhet | Lahabrea

TW: Dubious consent (implied). Nothing graphic or anything, it's just, um, sketchy as hell.

What are you drinking?” He leaned over the bar, putting his weight on his elbows. He didn’t sit down – not yet. He waited for an invitation.

The miqo’te perched on the next barstool looked him up and down appraisingly. She didn’t even bother to hide it. Not in the mood to play coy tonight, it seemed. Maybe she had had a rough day.

He had waited for her to notice him from across the room. And notice she did. Their eyes met and he fancied he could almost hear her thinking to herself: He’ll do.

“That depends,” She almost purred, “What are you buying?”

She hadn’t asked him to sit down, but she might as well have. He slid onto the plush velvet seat. This was a nicer place than usual, he noted. A classy little place where respectable people came to get less-than-respectably drunk. Was she celebrating something? Or did she just want a change of scenery? Who could say? He beckoned the bartender over. Wine seemed like it would suit the mood. He ordered something red and expensive – it wasn’t as if money meant much to him, anyway.

He was an elezen tonight – dark hair, dark skin, dark eyes. He usually preferred hyur, but this body had been available and seemed like something she might like. Then again, her tastes were wide and varied.

Why was he doing this again?

It was no use asking himself the question. He didn’t have any new answers. He told himself that keeping tabs on this shard’s Warrior of Light was his business, but even he didn’t believe that. This could hardly be called business.

Maybe it was because she made him feel the echo of something he hadn’t felt in a long time: interest. How long had it been since he was really interested in something? Detachment had been second nature to him for so long that he had almost forgotten what it felt like.

And she was interesting for a mortal, at least in some ways. In others she was almost offensively average. And yet there were times she almost seemed… familiar, somehow. Perhaps it was because she was a Warrior of Light. He’d seen plenty of Warriors on plenty of shards; he could hardly be blamed if they all started to blend together. If nothing else, though, she was interesting because of how interested Hydaelyn seemed to be in her. She had expended quite a lot of power to protect her from the might of the Ultima Weapon, after all. With her strength already waning, he couldn’t help but wonder why she had risked exhausting what little of her power remained on this Warrior of Light.

The bartender returned with two glasses of wine, and he offered one to her. She accepted it with thanks and took a sip, though her gaze never left his. His own traced along the features of her face with which he had become so well-acquainted – her dark eyelashes over her mismatched eyes, the swoop of her bangs across her forehead, the gentle curve of her lips. He smiled, and she smiled back.

The first time had been an accident, of course. Entirely improvised. It had been shortly after he had possessed one of her colleagues, Thancred, but before he had been able to manufacture a pretense for the man’s absence. He had, of course, watched his vessel closely enough to confidently impersonate him, at least for a short time. He had planned to slowly withdraw from the Scions, until his presence would no longer be missed. A contingency he had not prepared, however, for was Thancred being seized by the Warrior of Light herself and all-but dragged to a dive bar outside of Ul’dah. He had been caught off guard by this turn of events and he was left with no choice but to humor her, drinking and laughing (or at least pretending to) until the early hours of the morning. Fortunately, he doubted she would be able to remember the night clearly enough to recall if he had said or done anything out of character. His grand plan had also failed to account for being pulled into her sleeping chambers upon their return to the Waking Sands, and into bed with her. He had no way of knowing if this behavior was typical and expected or not. He had never seen it happen before, but that didn’t necessarily mean it hadn’t. He was a busy man, after all. So, he had decided in the moment to just… play along.

It had certainly been a novel experience.

“So,” He said in the elezen’s low, smooth voice. “Are you here waiting for a friend?”

She twirled the stem of her wineglass between her fingers. Always so fidgety. “More like looking for one.”

“Well,” He set his own wine glass back on the bar. “I’d be happy to keep you company while you look.”

The second time had been… less excusable.

After the debacle that was Ultima – curse Hydaelyn for her interference! – he had needed time to formulate a new plan. And while he devised his next strategy, he had had little else to do but keep tabs on the Warrior of Light and her companions.

It was during this time that he had begun to recognize a pattern to her behavior. On a semi-regular basis, usually when she had quarreled with a compatriot or was otherwise upset about something or other, she would seek out an establishment that sold alcohol and spend several hours there, eventually leaving with someone else. A different person each time.

Having been expelled from the body of Thancred, he had been forced to seek out a new host, presumably yet unknown to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and in his idleness he had begun to wonder…

Would she even notice?

She would not, it turned out. At least, she hadn’t yet. And that had been half a dozen times ago, give or take. It had become a fun little game to amuse himself with while he waited for wheels to turn. No round was ever quite the same, and he never used the same guise twice. He tried to vary his selections; different appearances, different origins, different genders. Recently he’d begun branching out into different races, as well (though they might as well all be the same to him). The other unsundered had always nagged him about the frequency with which he discarded his vessels, to which he usually responded that it was hardly his fault these fragments were so breakable and so boring. Not everyone’s scheme could include the industrialized production of clones like Emet-Selch’s did. In the event he hadn’t assumed a new vessel since the last time, though, projecting a different appearance was a small feat for an Ancient of Lahabrea’s caliber.

He tried a different tact in each iteration, partly to avoid arousing her suspicion and partly because it made the game more interesting. He wasn’t always successful – sometimes she was only in the mood for drinking, other times there was another patron than interested her more than he did, which he found annoying. Once he had even said something that offended her for some reason. He couldn’t remember what it was. Did it really matter?

She was watching him thoughtfully over the lip of her wineglass. She had half-emptied the glass already. He wondered if that was all it would take tonight. But when she opened her mouth, it wasn’t to invite him somewhere more private.

“Have we met before? You seem familiar for some reason.”

The question surprised him, but he didn’t lose his cool, didn’t miss a beat.

“I shouldn’t think so. You don’t seem like the sort one would have an easy time forgetting,”

Her grin took on a sly tilt. “Careful. With talk like that one might start to think you’re getting me drunk with ulterior motives,”

Internally, he sighed with relief, though he didn’t let it touch his face. Instead, he gave her a coy smile and picked up his wineglass for another sip. “Perish the thought! I would hate for you to think me so ungentlemanly,”

He probably should have stopped after one of her cohorts killed Nabriales. It was no small feat to kill an Ascian, even a sundered soul like his. In fact, he hadn’t even thought the mortals capable of it. Somehow, though, that only made things more interesting. It added the tiniest hint of danger to his little game, and he found he enjoyed it all the more. He had little real cause to worry, of course. Nabriales had been the architect of his own demise.

Even so, after the last round he had sworn to himself he wouldn’t do it again.

And had known with unshakeable certainty that he would.

She set her now empty wineglass on the bar. She had shifted to face him more fully, and he might have missed the way she leaned ever so slightly inward had he not been looking for it.

“Would you like another glass?”

She considered it for a moment, or at least pretended to. “Please.”

“Of course,” He ordered another glass and waited until the barkeep’s errand had taken him safely out of earshot.

“You know,” he said, surveying her as she had him earlier. “I don’t believe I’ve given you my name.”

Her lips quirked in a way that he found for some reason endearing. “I don’t believe I’ve asked you for it,”

He raised his eyebrows in amusement and opened his mouth to respond with some quip or other when he felt someone tap his shoulder.

He turned in his seat, a bit irritated by the interruption, to see a young Midlander with brooding grey eyes. “May I have a word?”

He had never seen the man before, but he would recognize his brother anywhere.

Oh dear.

How was he going to explain this little caper? He wondered. His previous justifications had barely convinced him, so they certainly wouldn’t convince the Emissary.

Ah, well. He was sure he would think of something.

He was, after all, Lahabrea: Speaker of the Convocation.

Okay in all seriousness this is definitely the most off-the-wall ship I was sent this round. I don't think it would happen, and if it did it would be a total shit-show. It's not necessarily because Lahabrea's a villain - there are of compelling villains ships out there. It's because he's both a villain and not Rhiki's type. He's braggadocios, megalomaniacal, and patronizing (and if there's one connecting thread between all of my characters it's that none of them would up with being condescended to by A Man.) And, for what it's worth, there's not really anything for Lahabrea to like about Rhiki. As an Ascian he's never portrayed as having any interest in or sympathy for mortals. The most any hyur, miqo'te, elezen, etc. could ever aspire to be to Lahabrea is "useful." To be honest, he doesn't really even seem to have any affection for his fellow ascians, though I'm aware there's something of a canonical reason for that. ARR really struggled with creating compelling antagonists, so Lahabrea (and most of the other villains) are painted as just... cartoonishly evil. I'm sure that he's given a lot more pathos in the Pandaemonium raid series, but I haven't played it yet so I can't speak to how well the original Lahabrea would have gotten along with Rhiki/Rhiki's Azem. Really, if you cut out all of the enw backstory, the above is really the only angle I could really see having any legs (as slimy and terrible as those legs are.) In realizing that I didn't know what Lahabrea actually looked like, I also realized that Rhiki has no idea what the real Lahabrea looks like. When I went over all of the times the WoL actually encounters Lahabrea, it dawned on me that the only time Rhiki sees him without his mask... he's Thancred, which is where the idea came from. (TBF to both of them I don't think ARR Rhiki would have had sex with Thancred no matter how shitfaced she was lol. This is just for the sake of exploring the possibilities.) Whether or not Rhiki actually found out about Lahabrea's body-hopping shenanigans is up for debate. I don't necessarily see how she would unless he or Elidibus told her. Lahabrea doesn't seem like he would have any motivation or opportunity to tell her. Elidibus might, if only to make it harder for Lahabrea to do anything stupid that might jeopardize their mission in the future. Obviously, Rhiki would not be pleased to learn this. I don't think any relationship the two of them could have could possibly change the trajectory of the story. The relationship isn't necessarily... romantic in nature. And I doubt there's anything about Rhiki that would make Lahabrea fall so head over heels for her that he would abandon his plans to resurrect Zodiark, which inevitably involves her death. Rhiki has no feelings for Lahabrea (except maybe anger, if she ever found out) but even if she did, she doesn't really have the opportunity to spare his life, since it's Thordan VII that ultimately kills him. BUT this was still a very fun thought experiment! I still apologize for everything that's happened above this point in the post, though. ^^;

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv fic #lahabrea #lahabrea x wol #tw: dubious consent (implied)#asks and answers #ask games #rhiki tag #u know i totally forgot how Lahabrea actually died i had no recollection of it #anyway i hope everyone either enjoyed this or hated it vehemently #sorry thancred #also sorry everyone else who read this #auggie writes

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witchofverdure · 2 months ago

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how working for myself and the general need to grind for income has kind of ruined me

The other night, I sat in the livingroom with "nothing to do". I had checked off everything on my to-do list for the day. I sat on the couch just staring off out the window feeling kind of lost.

"What do I do?"

T replied, "You don't have to be doing anything. You can just watch TV."

It dawned on me just how long I've 1) not had a set schedule or routine and 2) was constantly doing work of some sort even while "enjoying" hobbies.

I quite my corporate job in February 2023 to pursue art/photography freelancing. Let me tell you one thing: This shit is more difficult than my desk job. Yes, I hated my desk job. I had 3 of them up to that point since 2017, and I got bored of each one despite the fact I was rather successful at my last one. But the pay wasn't good for the area I lived in, and there was no moving up out of my position (I was hired to make the position a thing and, despite being there for three years and telling them the what the logical promotion would be, they just asked how long I saw myself doing my current job). Depression probably pushed me to quit sooner than I should've, too.

Since February 2023, I have constantly been grinding. Editing photos, planning social media posts, making photoshoot advert graphics, budgeting, trying to network...

Trying to think how I could bring in money.

Gone were the days of a bi-weekly check in the same amount every single week. Gone were the days where I'd still get paid when I didn't do any work. Now I'm doing BTS work and not getting paid. Before I got my part-time job, I would go weeks without any income.

I'm not saying I haven't indulged in any hobbies for 2 years. I am saying, though, I've had difficulty enjoying them. I feel guilty for not grinding. I feel guilty for not scrolling through social media to engage with posts in order to keep my page relevant so I reach new clients. I feel guilty of setting a No Work Past 9:30pm boundary.

When I worked a corporate job, hell, even when I worked in the food industry, I cherished my free time and my free time was buzzing with joy. I dove so deep into my hobbies. Now I sit on the couch at 10pm getting stressed over the fact I should be grinding out my edits. So stressed that I end up not even watching TV.

I have not played a video game since March 3rd, according to my Steam profile. And before that? I can't tell you. I've barely finished one book this year. I try to create a bullet journal to foster that art bug, but other than that, my other art hobbies lay collecting dust. It took me months to watch Longlegs and Late Night with the Devil when, in the past, I'd see movies opening weekend. I don't even know what shows people watch now because I only watch things I can have on in the background as I work.

If I'm not working in some manner, I don't know what to do. The idea of doing any of my hobbies makes me stressed or just uninterested.

Would I go back to a corporate job? I think about it. I think about how a steady paycheck may be better for my mental health. It'd definitely be better for my bank account. I think about how I enjoyed anime conventions a bit more when I didn't have to work the whole weekend doing shoots. But I like doing what I do now. I just wish the grind didn't have to be so hard.

I need to set a solid routine of when I do photography work. That's the first step to improving anything. I need to not do work while I'm out at the coffeeshop - that should be reserved for reading. I need to tell myself an hour of gaming won't make me lose any money. It could make me money if I streamed again!

This is why people slip further into depression. This is why people have breakdowns. I have made myself into someone who just works. That needs to change

Thank you for coming to my brain dump. Organizing my thoughts has taken me about a half hour, and sitting at my computer not doing work-related things has been nice. It's a start

#braindump on corporate vs freelance jobs #fuck capitalism #I know depression probably plays a roles in this #at least in the “not feeling fulfilled”#gotta love that meds don't solve everything #time to go watch my relaxing comfort movie of The Thing

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moseslikellamas · 3 months ago

Text

Ginny Weasley and the Year of healing

Chapter 15

Pairing is a mystery! Its also a mess so.

Summary - Ginny and Theo look for a memory.

Warnings - depictions of graphic violence, war, depictions of war weaponry, memory loss

Word count - 2.1k

Finally we're getting into some exciting territory! A lot of things will start to make sense soon!!

The two of them stood on a half exploded street corner. The ground was still covered in snow though the wind had died. Snowflakes fell gently, coating the two of them in the crystals.

"I don't know why it started snowing. Whatever memory I was looking at earlier seems to be particularly strong."

"Certain places carry stronger magical signatures. Surely Granger has told you lot about ley lines?"

She rolled her eyes. "I don't need Hermione's help to understand magical signatures."

If she had been in the arctic she would have been surrounded by untouched ancient and wild magic. It would be unlike anything else she'd experienced. But why was it cropping up now?

"Well, do you have any idea where the lake memory might be?" He looked around as if hoping to spot the lake in question.

She took a moment to consider it. It wasn't a memory she was conscious of so the chances of it being on this street were slim. They needed to move further in. Without really meaning to, she summoned two brooms for them. "We need to move deeper. Keep your guard up, I haven't ventured beyond here."

As the two of them took off Ginny had a chance to see the whole battlefield from above. It felt like a gut punch when she recognized where they were. A ragged sob broke free and the snow abruptly turned to pounding rain. The street was a cross section of Ottery St. Catchpole, the town closest to the Burrow. It was shrine to the destroyed town, her destroyed life safely preserved in her head. Specifically made to torture her away from reliving any of it. She'd certainly succeeded there, she felt like she was burning away as she flew over ruined streets and exploded houses. Soon she would be ash, washed away by the ceaseless rain.

They flew for a very long time over the countryside. It would've been nice if not for the storm and Ginny's flayed heart. After a while it appeared, just as Nott had been hoping. The black lake stood independent of anything else just sitting in a patch of grass like any other they'd flown over. As they landed a flash of lightning lit up the world around them and a crash of thunder sounded. She wanted to roll her eyes, the drama of it all was a bit much for her.

"You know if I were a worse person I'd charge you so much for this." He had to shout to be heard over the rain and wind. The lake was churning the waves lapping against their feet.

She looked up at him, completely soaked through. It was hard to see through the rivulets of water cascading down her face. Then for once she sincerely said, "Thank you." Then she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the water.

"Oh you can't be serious." He exclaimed when they were waist deep.

"I'm very good at hiding things. The only way to find it is under the waves. I have a good feeling about where it is."

"Given we don't drown first."

She ignored his grumbling and dove under the water. It was calmer underneath the waves and she could still breathe since they were in her mind. It was nearly soothing if not for the murkiness of the water and the sense of dread that accompanied it. She had a moment of hesitation then, was this memory really worth the effort? Nott nudging her was what made up her mind. She'd already dragged him this far, there was no sense in leaving empty handed.

The two set off in the direction Ginny sensed the memory. They swam for a while uninterrupted though the lake was clearly populated by all manner of creatures. She could sometimes hear the grindylow's below them in the greenery, hoping they'd sink a little lower. Her sense of dread grew at the thought of where the memory was at. She had a terrible sense that it was not going to be easy to acquire. They were nearly on top of it and everything in her was screaming for her to turn around. She needed to abandon this ridiculous pursuit, there was nothing here worth remembering.

And then a long slimy tentacle locked around her ankle and pulled her. Her scream was audible as she tried to gather her bearings. But it kept slinging her around making that impossible. She couldn't risk shooting any spells and hitting Nott. She was berating herself over the matter in a most unhelpful way as well. You're in your own head! Get a grip! You can stop this. Why aren't you stopping this? She couldn't calm down enough to do anything, to think about anything. She'd never fought, well whatever it was that had her.

Still panicking, Nott had managed to calm the beast and Ginny was released. Righting herself she was finally graced with the sight of the giant squid. He was actually kind of cute when he wasn't slinging her around. But where was the memory? It wasn't until she swam closer that the squid revealed the memory. It gave her a small sack that was tied together at the top with string. Then it disappeared into the murky water. Ginny watched it go wondering why she would include it here.

The two of them ascended the dry land where Ginny managed to banish the persistent rain.

"Lucky for you I'm personal friends with the squid." Nott said with the snottiness of a rich slytherin, while he dried himself off.

She couldn't help the smile that twitched on her lips. "Yeah, I guess so." Then she opened the bag and plunged her hand inside. She felt around for a moment before her fingers graced the right one.

***

"Ginny? Ginny!" It was so quiet, much too quiet for the amount of chaos going on around her. "Ginny please!" Someone was calling her name but that wasn't important. She watched brilliant lights flash across the sky and pretty orange and red dancing waves.

"Do it." She heard someone's command, a woman. "We need her alert, it has to be her."

Ginny didn't really understand where she was. They appeared to be in some sort of strange dug out burrow in the ground. She could see lights dancing off the window of their dirt dwelling. Then abruptly someone grabbed her, a potion flowed down her throat. It was tart and unwelcome but clarity flooded through her brain.

She'd been in shock. She'd been pushed to the edge by the massacre happening around them. She couldn't remember why they were here though or where exactly they were. Standing in front of her was Mara Briggsworth, a Belgian born witch working for the resistance. Beside her stood Neville and Gabrielle, Fleurs' sister. That rang a familiar bell in her head, they were only missingâ€¦ In from the blast outside entered two more people. Hannah Abbot and Michael Corner. She was on a raid; that was the only answer that made any sense. That meant they were stealing something, information or a weapon.

"Bloody mess out there. Lucky for us it's daylight."

Ginny watched as Michael limped towards a ledge of dirt and began a series of basic healing spells. Her mother had actually been the one to force the order to institute and mandate regular healing courses for anyone fighting for the resistance. It had cut their casualties down some but it had mostly made everyone more conscious of injuries. Still a win for them even if Ginny hated the boring lessons.

"But everythings as expected? Will we be able to enter?" Mara's voice held only a mild interest as if it were of no real consequence. She was busy tying something together. No that wasn't right, she wasâ€¦ connecting wires?

That's when it clicked for her. Ginny was their explosives expert. There wasn't a wall she couldn't tear down or a ward she couldn't break with enough firepower. Sometimes she only needed muggle supplies, purchased very easily from a muggle hardware store. She even had a punch card from the place.

"I still think we should just tunnel undernea-"

Neville cut Hannah off, "We've been over this, the pressure is too great. We'll all be crushed before we can do anything."

Ginny was uncomfortable and a bit numb. No one had answered Mara's question. Would they be able to go quickly? She didn't think so. Nothing had ever been easy for them during the course of this war, today would be no different. A frantic struggle, a chaotic clash between right and wrong. That's how it always was.

"Given this thing delivers, we'll make it." Michael said at last when the silence stretched on for too long.

That was her cue, standing Ginny observed the explosive device. It was a perfectly unassuming container, it looked uncannily like a rock. No doubt someone had spent several hours transfiguring it to be just right. She wondered briefly if it had been McGonagall. Inside was a completely different story, a mad tangle of wires connected to various wrapped containers which she knew contained different compounds made to intermingle to a dangerous effect.

There was something strangely calming about building a bomb. As she checked the device she felt that same unsettling calm fall over her. For a moment all she was thinking of was the task at hand, so familiar to her now it was second nature. It was as simple as brushing her teeth or washing her hands. Everything was in order and the details of the mission were coming back to her in a slow rolling fog across her mind. With her memory came a fresh coil of dread shooting through the center of her. They were going into the black lake, they'd broken through the outer shield earlier. Not without them having been significantly weakened by the headmistress though. Without her support they'd still be waiting outside the wall of protective wards.

The problem was the death eaters had cast their own form of protection over the lake. There was no surviving currently if one were to plunge into the depths below. But Ginny was good at breaking their enemies' wards. She knew what made them tick in a sense. Their intention is always punishment more than protection. They want the interloper to suffer more than they want to keep anything safe. It's a small detail and some other time maybe it would be an insignificant one. Unfortunately for them, this was her job and she took it very seriously.

This device was special, a mix of muggle supplies and magic interwoven together. A fun insult in her head. What better way to join the two forces together against a common enemy. An enemy that wanted her dead just as much as any muggle. It was only as she finished inspecting and straightened up that she noticed everyone had been quietly observing her. It made her skin prickle.

She cleared her throat. "It will work." She patted her breast pocket of her jacket to be sure of the detonator's location though she'd never once thought of it. It made sense why Mara had been so insistent that it must be her. No one else knew how to work the detonator.

By design Ginny made the detonator impossible to be set off by anyone other than her. These devices were incredibly dangerous and she did not trust a soul to do it right beyond herself. She built them, she would set them off. She had made her peace with being held solely responsible for any damages after the war. If there was an after anyway. The detonator would only work if she activated it with a voice code and completed a complex eye movement pattern. The sensor would read her specific data and then go off after 10 seconds. The timing was purposeful as well. They were often sprinting and shooting hexes when they needed to blow something up. It was established protocol that bombs were dropped on the move.

This would be the trickiest drop they'd done yet. It had to be detonated over the lake. It didn't have to be in the center or any other nonsense. It only had to be over the water when it went off. Seems simple enough right? Well the complication was that they needed to enter the lake precisely as the device went off but they couldn't touch the water before then. It was a divergence from their usual protocol. Ginny could not run beyond the thing as she could not run over the top of the lake. Instead she would have to fling the thing while they battled from the rear. If everything went according to the plan, they would dive in immediately. Once they retrieved the item they were to apparate straight from beneath the waves. A risky move but a needed one.

If everything didn't go according to plan, well, she would deal with that as it happened.

#ginny weasley and the year of healing #ginny weasley fanfic #ginny weasley fanfiction #ginny weasley #harry potter eighth year #harry potter after the war #harry potter fanfic #harry potter fanfiction #golden trio era #hogwarts eighth year #hogwarts after the war #hogwarts fanfic #hogwarts fanfiction #hogwarts

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karenskreations · 2 years ago

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#2 - scary times

long time, no write.

i've recently made some big life decisions, in regards to my life as an artist. i've decided to do a course in illistration!

as i'm typing this, i just submitted my final form and paid my fees. it feels good. it feels healing. it feels scary.

some background:

since I was born, i've been a super artistic and creative person, really and truly. as a kid, that's what i wanted to do with my life: be an artist. that's what i spent all my time doing, that's when i was my happiest. however, i remember when i was about 8 or 9 telling someone in my life that that's what i wanted to do, and they replied with 'okay, but good luck being hungry for the rest of your life.' they then proceeded to tell me about how artists make no money and it's a stupid idea to think that i could make it my fulltime job.

and that that has subconsciously stuck with me to this day, at the ripe old age of 23.

I would still paint and draw and all in school and at home, but my relationship with it changed. a part of me felt bad for dedicating time to something that wouldn't be useful to me in the future. when i went to secondary school, i really wanted to do art for my junior cert (exams you do at 15 in ireland). my parents were hesitant to let me as an older cousin was in her final years of secondary school and was doing art as a subject and was making an art portfolio outside to apply to colleges with. I had to promise them it wouldn't interfere with my other subjects. and then basically had to have the same conversation, by more heated, when i wanted to do art for my leaving cert (final exams). they were unhappy about it, but allowed it. not because they didn't want me to go to art school or anything, but because they thought it would hinder my other subjects.

when it came to deciding what i wanted to do in college, i ended up choosing to do media and film, as in my head it was still something in the creative field, but seemed much more employable. i was still painting and drawing and making art on the side as a hobby. i really enjoyed my plc and degree, it was really interesting and helped me to grow a lot as a person.

about last year, i started thinking about how, while i really do adore film and the media industry, i just feel like my life will never be fully fulfilled, ya know? i did and still do have a great love for film and digital art and media, don't get me wrong. i went to germany on erasmus and it was extreme eye opening, and was the first time i was surrounded by like minded creatives. when i got home, i was really inspired by them all. i started thinking about maybe doing a course in art or illustration or graphic design or something after my degree, but i was undecided.

any other creative person will resonate with this on some degree. but i feel like i just have this compulsion within me to make stuff. to make art. while i really struggled mentally during lockdown and covid, it was one of the most creatively fulfilling times as when i wasn't doing lectures online or working, i was painting or knitting. for me, during final year, the year just gone, i really had to suppress that compulsion a lot, only letting it out to do assignments for college. i thought myself to crochet, which i still do. i think i took it up and also knitting as it was a form of creativity outside of college that didn't require a lot of setting up and i could bring it with me places easily. but i put down my paintbrushes and pencils and haven't really pick them back up since.

and now, how i came to decide to do illustration:

like i said, i was thinking about doing a course in art or something after my degree, but i kinda had decided that there was no point and i should just start working or whatever.

then, my nana passed away.

she was an artist, as a hobby, her whole life. she really encouraged me and my cousin, who is now a tattoo artist, to pursue art and creativity. it wasn't a sudden death, but still, a shock. i had put the thoughts of doing the courses in the back of my mind, until, an ad came up for me on instagram for one of the colleges that all the fees this year had been scrapped, and you only had to pay €40-€50 instead of €200-€300. insanity.

i looked into it. i decided to apply for one in graphic design. i felt like it was the safe option ya know, in a similar line to what i'd done in college, more employable blah blah blah. then, i found one in design and illustration. i just applied to it anyways just for the craic. i was still unsure, even after applying. i'm currently doing an internship and didn't want to apply if they were going to overlap. well, wouldn't you know that they both start the week after i finish my internship. the timing couldn't be more perfect.

that's defiantly nana breda looking down on me, telling me to just do it.

i got accepted outright into the graphic design one, but had to do a little interview for design and illustration. last week, i went to the interview, brought a few paintings and collages and pieces of work i've done with me to show. when i met jane, the woman who interviewed me, i instantly felt like i was standing in front of my old art teacher and my nana. i had my old art teacher in secondary school for the full 6 years, and she had a real positive effect on me. but that's for another time.

through the jigs and the reels, she really liked me, and my work. like my art teacher, she gave off a very honest aura and i felt like she was sincere in it. i mean, i could see her list of people she was to interview and had already crossed off 2 names, not giving them a place so. she said that i had a lot of talent and a lovely style, i just needed to train it and sharpen it up. she loved that i have the film and media background. she made me feel very welcome and like i had subconsciously made the right choice. i know i just applied to that one cause it was closer to me and somewhat similar, but i think a part of me deep down said that that's the one i should be doing.

i just had to make the decision. which do i want to do; the safe option or the passion option? something came over me, and I've decided to pursue the passion.

it feels scary but good. I cannot wait to start. spent some time drawing and painting again, just to get back into the swing of things x

#artists on tumblr #europe #irish #ireland #irish artist #blog #art blog #diary #illustration #drawing #painting

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